Wikileaks: Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Furious After Daily Mail Reporter David Martosko Followed Motorcade

The Clinton campaign was furious with Daily Mail reporter David Martosko for following Hillary Clinton’s motorcade and filing a story about it, according to WikiLeaks’ new batch of emails from campaign chairman John Podesta.

Martosko reported that Clinton’s “Scooby van” was clocked traveling 92 mph as he followed them on the trail.

In a series of emails, campaign chief Jennifer Palmieri sent a draft of a letter she was considering sending to the Daily Mail to complain about his behavior, citing “other journalists” who also expressed their concerns.

The draft is below:

I am writing to make you aware of some concerning incidents we have experienced with your reporter David Maratosko (sic). On two separate occasions during trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, David attempted to trail the motorcade between event stops, getting dangerously close to the point where the state police escorting the motorcade had to pull him over on more than one occasion. He also made a false report about the speed of the motorcade, claiming that it was traveling at speeds higher than it was, and posted video that indicated he was speeding in pursuit of the vehicles, which the Iowa Department of Transportation and others refuted and cited concerns about. We strive to run an open campaign that facilitates journalists’ ability to cover us in a safe and professional environment. At times David has conducted himself perfectly professionally at our events. At times he has been disruptive shouting over and disrupting other reporters to the point that other journalists have complained to the campaign. We expect that kind of exchange during the rough and tumble of a presidential campaign. But we find the motorcade incidents disturbing and wanted to bring them to your attention.

“Should we say we find them disturbing and hope that you will take steps to end this behavior?” asked Podesta, after reading the draft.

“So I did not do that because what I really want is just a reason to exclude him from the pool and don’t want them to fix the problem,” Palmieri admitted.

By June, the Clinton campaign blocked Martosko from traveling with the campaign, even though he was part of the press pool. As the Washington Post reported, campaign spokesperson Nick Merrill offered various contradictory reasons for why he was blocked from his job.

Martosko now primarily covers Donald Trump’s campaign for the Daily Mail.

UPDATE:

https://twitter.com/dmartosko/status/785871807308062724