On Wednesday’s “CNN Tonight,” journalist, CNN Political Commentator, and author Carl Bernstein argued that Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is “largely damaged from where she was” and that her rival Democratic candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is “partly” staying in the race in the hope that he’ll win by flipping superdelegates as a result of “fallout” from the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s email, and that “There’s no question” Hillary and the law firm she was a member of “interrogated” some of the women who sued Bill Clinton over an alleged “slush fund that enabled him to have relations with some women.”
Bernstein said that Sanders still being in the race is hurting Clinton. He then tried a “cynical” explanation of the Democratic primary process, where Sanders goes into the Democratic convention “as damaged goods. She already is partly damaged, largely damaged from where she was, by an awful lot of the distrust factor, by what’s happened with the server, by supposed lies she’s told, some that may exist, some that may not. And we have an FBI investigation that’s ongoing, and the very slightest chance that something could result from it, not an indictment in all likelihood, but perhaps some fallout that would be damaging to her, and if she does not have enough of pledged delegates, which she probably won’t, and comes in there damaged, and Trump is running around, and crooked Hillary is sticking to some extent, then perhaps Sanders thinks those superdelegates might think twice, and I think that this is partly what’s going on now.”
Bernstein added that it is “very unlikely” Sanders will succeed in this, and that Sanders could be “a savior of sorts” to Clinton at the convention by trying to “deliver his movement to her.”
He further stated, “[T]here is this little wiggle room that he sees, cynically perhaps. We heard his wife say, where is this FBI investigation. I think it figures perhaps in this.”
Bernstein also criticized the media’s lack of “investigative biographies” on the candidates, and “[W]e do not look at the whole arc of these candidates’ lives, how much do we know about Hillary Clinton and the fact that religion, family, and the whole concept of public service has been the backbone of her belief through her life. Now, you can say, and many people do, that, well, she’s kind of undermined that by her own conduct. How much do we really know about Donald Trump and his business dealings? How much do we really about Bernie Sanders, who won’t release his tax returns?”
Bernstein concluded by discussing the accusations against Clinton that she was an “enabler” of Bill Clinton’s behavior towards women. He said, “There’s no question, back in Arkansas, that Hillary Clinton, and the law firm she was at, interrogated some of the women who were named in a lawsuit that was brought against Bill Clinton for supposedly having a slush fund that enabled him to have relations with some women. It’s never been shown that slush fund existed, or that he actually had sexual relations with those women, with the exception perhaps of Gennifer Flowers.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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