Elections

Leaked Email Suggests Hillary ‘Beat The Sh*t Out Of A Punch Doll’ Or Staffer To Warm Up For Interview

Hillary Clinton: Lucas Jackson/Reuters

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Hillary Clinton should “beat the sh*t out of a punch doll (or maybe a staffer)” to warm up for an upcoming interview, Clinton ally Neera Tanden suggested to Clinton campaign manager John Podesta last year, according to new WikiLeaks emails released Saturday.

“Have her beat the sh*t out of a punch doll (or maybe a staffer)…so she would be warm and charming in the interview,” Tanden, president of the left-wing Center for American Progress, wrote in an email to Podesta.

Tanden’s email is dated September 3, 2015 and titled “Ahead of Andrea – unsolicited advice.”

Tanden likely dispatched the email in anticipation of Clinton’s September 4, 2015 one-on-one interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell.

According to Tanden, Clinton appeared disagreeable when she sat for morning show interviews during the Democratic primaries. Presumably battering a doll or staffer would have helped to make Clinton seem more pleasant.   

“During the height of the primaries when she was doing morning show after morning show she would be relatively unpleasant. But then she actually did a good job on the shows,” Tanden’s email concluded.

In her nearly 30-minute interview with Mitchell on September 4, Clinton discussed the controversy surrounding her use of a private email server, the 2016 presidential race, the possibility of a Joe Biden presidential run, Donald Trump, Syrian refugees, China, and the Iran nuclear deal.