CHEATING, ANYONE?
by Sharon Rondeau
(Oct. 31, 2016) — In an email released by WikiLeaks on Monday morning, then-CNN political contributor Donna Brazile appears to have sent a March 5, 2016 email to Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta stating that “a woman with a rash” would be asking, “what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint” at an upcoming townhall event.
The question arose in the wake of the discovery of contaminated drinking water in the city of Flint, MI in January.
Brazile is now interim chairwoman of the Democrat National Committee (DNC), some of whose emails were released by WikiLeaks in July and showed favoritism of Clinton over Democrat primary contender Sen. Bernie Sanders despite the organization’s pledge of “neutrality.”
In an interview with Fox News’s Megyn Kelly on October 19, Brazile denied any coordination between the Clinton campaign and her while she was a CNN contributor. At the time, Brazile was also a contributor to ABC News and vice-chairwoman of the DNC.
Brazile called Kelly’s implying that she obtained the question in advance and supplied it to the Clinton campaign “totally false.”
Wikileaks has been featuring certain of its tens of thousands of email releases from Podesta’s email accounts in its Twitter feed since it began disclosing them on October 7. On October 20, WikiLeaks promised Brazile and Clinton running-mate Tim Kaine “a surprise” via a future release.
In a New York Times transcript of a townhall-style debate in Flint between Clinton and Sanders on March 6, 2016, CNN anchor and then-moderator Anderson Cooper called upon a woman identified as “Mikki Wade” to ask the first question.
“We want to begin tonight with the people of Flint themselves. This is Mikki Wade, she’s a public housing program manager, and the mother of two kids. She says she’s currently undecided, and has a question that both of you will be able to weigh in on. Ms. Wade?” Cooper said, to which Wade responded:
The water has impacted our lives in such a way that living comfortably in our home isn’t the same anymore. The constant drives to pick up water just so my children can wash their hair, to wash our fruits and vegetables, and to brush our teeth is incredibly difficult. Once the pipes are replaced, I’m not so sure I would be comfortable ever drinking the water.QUESTION: If elected president, what course will you take to regain my trust in the government?
Other questions touched on the Flint water crisis but focused on whether or not politicians were capitalizing on it to score points; how they might return jobs to the state, and gun violence.
An email previously released by WikiLeaks indicated Brazile allegedly having written to Clinton Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri on March 12, 2016 “From time to time, I get the questions in advance,” then providing a question on gun violence which was “very similar” to one asked the following day at a townhall meeting in Ohio moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and TV One’s Roland Martin.