MSNBC host Thomas Roberts challenged Media Matters for America founder David Brock and his hair for his insistence that the scrutiny surrounding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of private emails was a “manufactured controversy,” asking why the American people didn’t have a right to know what their officials were up to. (RELATED: Media Matters Attacked ‘Obamacare Enrollment Truthers’: Turns Out ‘Truthers’ Were Right)
“So you don’t think it’s of any alarm that a cabinet-level official runs their own e-mail operation out of their private home, through their personal account with no oversight from the president?” asked a skeptical Roberts. “That’s not a problem?”
“I don’t know why that would be a problem,” said Brock. “I don’t think it’s material. I think the issue is, wouldn’t you want to know that the Clintons had a lot of security on their e-mail, and that the Chinese and the Russians weren’t hacking into their e-mail?”
“So we shouldn’t trust our own government?” Roberts interrupted, “And the elected official that out president is in appointing Hillary Clinton, the American people electing the president should have no oversight over Hillary Clinton?”
“No, I don’t understand what you’re saying about oversight,” Brock replied, who, until recently, also worked at the preeminent pro-Hillary PAC.
“No access to her e-mail,” Roberts pointed out. “Well, the e-mails she wants to give up. If you have your own server in your house, you can control then what you release to the State Department as they’re trying to retain 55,000 e-mails they may or may not have.” (RELATED: Did The DoD Lie To A Journalist To Avoid Releasing Emails?)
“In my view, what’s important is the law was complied with,” Brock maintained steadfastly. (VIDEO: Sharyl Attkisson Dismisses Media Matters: ‘Paid, Left-Wing Blog’)
Roberts found himself continually bringing the conversation back to the crux of the matter: “You don’t find it a problem at all that a cabinet-level member has their own server and runs their own e-mail operation through a personal account doing government business, and not ccing most of the e-mails to her office, or even to her own .gov account? You find no problem with that?”
“The law specified what was required, and the law was complied with,” Brock maintained, before calling the entire scandal a politically motivated hit job. “[T]his is related to the Republicans, and Benghazi, and leaking of stories, and trying to harass Hillary Clinton and get access to all these e-mails and go on a big fishing expedition, because they failed in what they’ve tried to do for years. There have been ten investigations of this, Thomas.”
“You think this is smart politics from Hillary Clinton to have done this?” Roberts pressed.
“I don’t think this is a political issue. I think it’s no issue,” Brock maintained. “I think it’s an issue that’s ginned up only by the Republicans for partisan purposes. Unfortunately, we’ve seen this time and again with the Benghazi committee where mainstream media outlets have been taken in, they think there’s something there.”