Internal documents leaked from Hillary Clinton’s campaign reveal which reporters had cocktails with the campaign and a then-Politico (now New York Times) reporter that Clinton’s staff described as a “friendly journalist.”
The documents are a part of a leak that hacker Guccifer 2.0 provided to The Daily Caller. An event memo describes cocktails with Clinton campaign chairman Joel Benenson on April 10, 2015. Clinton announced her candidacy two days later. “This is an off-the-record dinner with the key national reporters, especially (though not exclusively) those that are based in New York. Much of the group includes influential reporters, anchors and editors,” the memo states.
It says the goals of the event were to “give reporters their first thoughts from team HRC in advance of the announcement,” “setting expectations for the announcement and launch period,” “framing the HRC message and framing the race,” and “enjoy a [Friday] night drink before working more.”
The reporters who RSVP’d are as as follows:
ABC – Cecilia Vega
ABC – David Muir
ABC – Diane Sawyer
ABC – George Stephanoplous
ABC – Jon Karl
Bloomberg – John Heillman
Bloomberg – Mark Halperin
CBS – Norah O’Donnell
CBS – Vicki Gordon
CNN – Brianna Keilar
CNN – David Chalian
CNN – Gloria Borger
CNN – Jeff Zeleny
CNN – John Berman
CNN – Kate Bouldan
CNN – Mark Preston
CNN – Sam Feist
Daily Beast – Jackie Kucinich
NBC Anchor Savannah Guthrie’s husband Mike Feldman
Huffington Post – Whitney Snyder
Bloomberg contributer and wife of New York Times political reporter Jonathan Martin – Betsy Fisher Martin
MSNBC – Alex Wagner
MSNBC – Beth Fouhy
MSNBC – Phil Griffin
MSNBC – Rachel Maddow (TBD)
MSNBC – Rachel Racusen
NBC – Savannah Gutherie
New Yorker – Ryan Liza
New York Times – Amy Chozik
New York Times – Gail Collins
New York Times – Jonathan Martin
New York Times – Maggie Haberman
New York Times – Pat Healey
PEOPLE – Sandra Sobieraj Westfall
POLITICO – Glenn Thrush
POLITICO – Mike Allen
VICE – Alyssa Mastramonoco
VOX – Jon Allen
Another document in the leak, titled “Earned Media/Next Steps,” describes the Clinton campaign’s strategy for placing stories. The January 2015 memo states, “We are all in agreement that the time is right place a story with a friendly journalist in the coming days that positions us a little more transparently while achieving the above goals.” The Intercept reports that according to the document’s metadata it was created by traveling Clinton campaign press secretary Nick Merrill.
The memo continues on to say: “We have has a very good relationship with Maggie Haberman of Politico over the last year. We have had her tee up stories for us before and have never been disappointed. While we should have a larger conversation in the near future about a broader strategy for reengaging the beat press that covers HRC, for this we think we can achieve our objective and do the most shaping by going to Maggie.”
It later describes their strategy for a “sanctioned story.” “First, a list of names that we agree upon beforehand that we will give to a reporter on background, both policy people and campaign people. Second, some information provided on background that explains what is happening and why and third, a quote on-the-record that affirms all of this in an official capacity, making clear that this is a sanctioned story,” the memo states.
(Address and phone numbers redacted by The Daily Caller.)
Leaked by Guccifer 2.0 to TheDC
Leaked by Guccifer 2.0 to TheDC
Leaked by Guccifer 2.0 to TheDC
Story Memo by Alex Pfeiffer on Scribd
