Donna Brazile says passing along a list of topics for a TV town hall event to Hillary Clinton’s campaign was “a mistake I will forever regret.”
Brazile, who was the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) interim chairwoman this summer and is a former CNN contributor, opened up about last year’s election in a Time magazine essay.
“My job was to make all our Democratic candidates look good, and I worked closely with both campaigns to make that happen,” she wrote. “But sending those emails was a mistake I will forever regret.”
{mosads}WikiLeaks in October published emails purportedly stolen from Clinton campaign chief John Podesta, which included messages from Brazile to Clinton’s campaign containing information on what would be asked during two town hall debates between Clinton and her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
In an email dated March 12, 2016, Brazile wrote to Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri about the candidate’s stance on the death penalty with the subject header: “From time to time I get the questions in advance.”
“Here’s one that worries me about HRC,” wrote Brazile in the email, using Clinton’s initials.
Palmieri wrote back: “Yes, it is one she gets asked about. Not everyone likes her answer but can share it.”
At the town hall the next day, an audience member asked Clinton about the death penalty.
CNN seemed to point the finger at TV One’s Roland Martin, a former CNN political pundit, for passing along the question to Brazile in that instance. Martin has denied doing so.
The released emails also showed Brazile telling the Clinton campaign before a March 6 debate that there would be questions about the contaminated water in Flint, Mich.
“One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash,” Brazile wrote to Podesta and Palmieri on March 6. “Her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint.”
Martin was not involved in that debate.
Both happened when Brazile was a CNN contributor, before she became the interim DNC chairwoman. After the revelations, Brazile was told she would not return to the network.
Brazile maintained the questions were never supplied to her by anyone at CNN.
In a November interview on Sirius XM, Brazile appeared not to regret sharing the questions in advance.
“My conscience — as an activist, a strategist — is very clear,” Brazile said in an interview with SiriusXM host Joe Madison, adding, “If I had to do it all over again, I would know a hell of a lot more about cybersecurity.”