Top staffers in Hillary Clinton’s nascent presidential campaign saw Vox founder Ezra Klein as an ally who would help them “hold journalists accountable,” according to Wikileaks’ release of messages from John Podesta’s purported email accounts.
On March 23, 2015, several weeks before the official announcement of her 2016 candidacy, Clinton staffers discussed how they could push back on a New York Times story discussing her emails about the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.
Cheryl Mills, senior adviser to former Secretary Clinton, wrote: “Lloyd Grove used to be the person who would hold journalist [sic] accountable – who is that now and is there an opportunity for that in real time today?”
Jennifer Palmieri, the campaign’s director of communications, replied, “I think that person, the degree to which they exist, is Ezra Klein. And we can do it with him today.”
Klein is the founder of Vox.com, a notoriously left-wing blog platform that brands itself as a non-partisan “explanatory journalism” publisher.
“We help you understand the news and the world around you,” a Vox Facebook bio promises. “That is to say, our end goal isn’t telling you what just happened, or how we feel about what just happened, it’s making sure you understand what just happened. We deliver a lot of contextual information that traditional news stories aren’t designed to carry.”
No emails have yet surfaced showing direct correspondence between Klein and the Clinton campaign. However, Vox has clearly been compliant if not eager to attack reporters that run afoul of Hillary for America, per a quick search of its headlines over the election cycle:
Confessions of a Clinton reporter: The media’s 5 unspoken rules for covering Hillary — Jonathan Allen, 7/6/2015
The Clinton rules are at the heart of the New York Times’s botched Hillary story — Jonathan Allen, 7/28/2015
Why the media will lift Trump up and tear Clinton down — David Roberts, 5/5/2015
Anthony Weiner’s sexts are being treated like a campaign story — they shouldn’t be — Jeff Stein, 8/30/2016
The New York Times’ latest Clinton Foundation “scandal” may be the dumbest one yet — Matt Yglesias, 9/2/2016
There’s a subtle sexism in asking excessive “questions” about Hillary Clinton’s health — Emily Crockett, 9/13/2016
Why Glenn Greenwald relentlessly attacks Hillary Clinton — even if it helps Donald Trump — Jeff Stein, 9/15/2016
Yes, Hillary Clinton is part of a dynasty. That’s usually how glass ceilings get shattered. — Zack Beauchamp, 7/28/2016
Topical! Why WikiLeaks hates Hillary Clinton — Zack Beauchamp, 10/11/2016
And then this beauty from the man himself…
UNDERSTANDING HILLARY: WHY THE CLINTON AMERICA SEES ISN’T THE CLINTON COLLEAGUES KNOW — Ezra Klein, 7/11/2016