Martin O’Malley insisted the Democratic Party was “making a huge mistake when we allow the brand on our side of this national debate everyday to be questions about what did Hillary Clinton know, when did she know it.”
O’Malley, appearing on “New Hampshire Today” with Jack Heath Thursday, insisted that questions about Hillary’s server are “legitimate questions.”
Jack Heath: Let me ask you this, Gov. Martin O’Malley. In New Hampshire today, Hillary Clinton — it was …
Martin O’Malley: The Hillary question.
Heath: You’re chuckling, and before I even ask you, you can comment in general. Let me ask you this, it was her nomination to lose. That was the sense, and that maybe is the sense of some. This email probe — it’s a serious…
O’Malley: Very serious question.
Heath: Taxpayers are paying for this investigation. There’s FBI agents on it, Department of Justice. Some would say Hillary Clinton, first it was sort of a political attack against her, that she didn’t mishandle anything, that she didn’t mishandle marked classified emails. Is this a serious matter to you, or not? And if so, why?
O’Malley: It is a serious matter, and they are legitimate questions. And I guess my chuckle was that you went so long, Jack, before asking me the Hillary question. Usually…
Heath: Well, we are not like the national media, we like to ask substantive, and this is an important question, but I like to ask about the economy and jobs. And that’s how we do it in New Hampshire.
O’Malley: Yeah, these are serious and legitimate questions, and Hillary Clinton and her lawyers will have to answer them. For my part, I am using what time I have to put forward the ideas that serve our national interest. And those ideas are the ideas that will get wages to go up again instead of down. I think we as a party though — this is partly an answer to your question — are making a huge mistake when we allow the brand on our side of this national debate everyday to be questions about what did Hillary Clinton know, when did she know it. Did she wipe her server, did she not? These are not the issues and the answers to problems that the American people feel, even if the answers come out, will make life better around their kitchen table. We need to talk about, we need to have debates, we need to have them today. We need to make college affordable, how we get wages to go up, how we allow people with to retire with security and how we get our economy to work again for all of use instead of just a few of us.
Heath: If Hillary Clinton is the nominee of your party, you think she wins the general election?
O’Malley: I’ve always supported the Democratic Party’s nominee, Jack. And I think it is always hard, if we knew how all of this would turn out, it wouldn’t be so exciting, would it?