“Meet The Press” host Chuck Todd argued that Hillary Clinton aide Brian Pagliano’s decision to plead the Fifth gives the appearance of “admitting to some potential wrong doing, regardless to the legal part of this.”
Todd, appearing on NBC’s “Today” show Thursday, said that “what is in the best interest of Hillary Clinton may not be in the best interest of Mr. Pagliano” and that possible inadvertent “mishandling classified information could lead to legal problems down the road.” (RELATED: Hillary’s IT Guy Will Plead The Fifth If Called To Testify)
Savannah Guthrie: There are a lot of reasons an individual may choose to assert their Fifth Amendment right not to self incriminate. We don’t know what this man’s lawyer told him to do. But as a political matter for Hillary Clinton to have a staffer who says, “I better not testify because I don’t want to incriminate myself.” That does not look good.
Chuck Todd: It isn’t. In the court of public opinion, when you plead the Fifth, as far as the political world is concerned, then you’re already admitting to some potential wrongdoing, regardless to the legal part of this. And this is what makes this investigation so potentially damaging to Hillary Clinton. Not just now but this is also a reminder that — let’s take the campaign at their word that they encouraged Mr. Pagliano to testify. Well, what is in the best interest of Hillary Clinton may not be in the best interest of Mr. Pagliano, which is of course Savannah as you know, what a lawyer may have told him. And when it comes to handling classified information, whoever you can easily see this lawyer telling him, “Hey, you set up the server. You did this. You may get tagged as inadvertently have mishandling classified information.” And guess what — even inadvertently mishandling classified information could lead to legal problems down the road.
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