WikiLeaks email suggests Brazile sent debate question to Clinton camp

Donna Brazile, the then-CNN contributor who is now the interim chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), apparently warned Hillary Clinton staffers about the details of another debate question during the Democratic primaries, according to a hacked email published Monday by WikiLeaks.

In an email dated March 5, 2016 — the day before a CNN debate in Flint, Mich. — Brazile sent Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and communications director Jennifer Palmieri an email with the subject line, “One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash.”

{mosads}“Her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint,” she wrote.

Brazile was also DNC vice chairwoman at the time.

Interesting https://t.co/b2jBcUwW3w via @CBedfordDC pic.twitter.com/t1XazLtzTD

— Justin Green (@JGreenDC) October 31, 2016

No one question precisely correlates with Brazile’s warning, but several questions in the debate did address the host city of the debate, roiled by a lead-contaminated drinking water crisis.

One woman, Lee-Anne Walters, is described by moderator Anderson Cooper as having two children with health problems.

“After my family, the city of Flint and the children in D.C. were poisoned by lead, will you make a personal promise to me right now that, as president, in your first 100 days in office, you will make it a requirement that all public water systems must remove all lead service lines throughout the entire United States, and notification made to the — the citizens that have said service lines?” Walters asked.

The question went to both Clinton and rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Brazile has faced scrutiny for another email in the leaks that suggested she had provided debate questions to Clinton in advance of a March 13 town hall event hosted by Roland Martin and Jake Tapper, also host of CNN’s “State of the Union” and “The Lead.”

“From time to time I get the questions in advance,” she allegedly wrote Palmieri on March 12. 

Both Brazile and CNN have fiercely denied that Clinton was given any advance notice of questions.

On Monday, CNN issued a statement insisting that “never gave Brazile access to any questions, prep material, attendee list, background information or meetings in advance of a town hall or debate.” The network said it was “very uncomfortable” with the revelations.

The Hill reached out to Brazile for comment but did not receive a response.

But after an Oct. 11 leak of an email showing that Brazile said she sometimes received debate questions in advance, she said in a statement:

“As a longtime political activist with deep ties to our party, I supported all of our candidates for president. I often shared my thoughts with each and every campaign, and any suggestions that indicate otherwise are simply untrue. As it pertains to the CNN Debates, I never had access to questions and would never have shared them with the candidates if I did.” 

CNN suspended Brazile after she was named chairwoman of the DNC in the wake of Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s resignation at the party’s national convention in Philadelphia in July after fallout from other hacked emails published by WikiLeaks.

According to CNN’s statement, the network accepted Brazile’s resignation on Oct. 14, a few days after the first leaked email came to light.

Wasserman Schultz and senior DNC officials were found to be attempting to undercut the Sanders campaign.