CNN's Elise Labott accused of coordinating coverage of 2013 Benghazi hearing with Hillary Clinton's aide

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CNN foreign affairs correspondent Elise Labott landed in hot water after this week's release of State Department emails
Email exchanges from January 2013 suggest Clinton's aide Philippe Reines was giving Labott suggestions on tweets about Benghazi hearing
On January 23, Labott tweeted: 'Sen Paul most critical on committee of Clinton, but a little late to the #Benghazi game.Not sure he was at many of the 30 previous briefings'
A Paul campaign aide on Wednesday called on CNN to address 'this bias and lack of journalistic integrity'
Labott has been suspended from the network for two weeks for sending a tweet criticizing House bill to block Syrian refugees from the US

Published: 17:07 EST, 26 November 2015 | Updated: 17:32 EST, 26 November 2015

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In hot water: CNN reporter Elise Labott has come under fire for allegedly coordinating her coverage of a 2013 Benghazi hearing with a Clinton aide

Suspended CNN reporter Elise Labott has come under fire again, this time for allegedly coordinating her coverage of a 2013 Benghazi hearing with a former Hillary Clinton spokesman to attack Senator Rand Paul.

A new batch of State Department emails that were released to Gawker on Tuesday appear to show that Labott took direction from Philippe Reines, a top Clinton aide in the State Department, when crafting tweets concerning the January 23, 2013, Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

In one email exchange from that day, Reines seems to offer Labott, a CNN foreign affairs correspondent, suggestions for tweets critical of the Republican senator who was especially harsh on Clinton during the hearing.

After conferring with Reines, Labott sent out a message to her followers that read: 'Sen Paul most critical on committee of Clinton, but a little late to the #Benghazi game.Not sure he was at many of the 30 previous briefings.'

Labott then checked in with Reines again, asking him whether he was sure Senator Paul was not 'at any hearings.'

Based on their subsequent written exchange, Ms Labott also may have sent another tweet at Reines' urging later that day that contained a favorable quote from Clinton.

Email exchanges released to Gawker on Tuesday suggest that Labott sent out a tweet critical of Senator Rand Paul (left), who was especially hard on Hillary Clinton during the January hearing, after conferring with State Department official Philippe Reines

In the hot seat: Clinton was called to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 23, 2013, about the attacks in Benghazi, Libya

‘Clinton: I tried to be transparent. I could have joined the 18 ARBs, kept it classified and then said goodbye. That is not who I am,’ Labott’s message read.

At the conclusion of the hearing held to investigate the death of Americans in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012, the CNN reporter wrote to Reines: ‘She [Clinton] was great. well done. I hope you are going to have a big drink tonight.’

On Wednesday, the Paul presidential campaign released a statement to The Daily Caller, blasting Labott for her conduct and accusing the CNN staffer of working in concert with Reines to discredit the GOP candidate.

Doug Stafford, Paul's top campaign strategist, demanded that CNN address 'this bias and lack of journalistic integrity’ and decried liberal media’s ‘Clinton sycophancy.’

CNN is scheduled to host another Republican debate on December 16 in Las Vegas.

Twitter-gate: Labott apparently sent out this tweet after getting an email from Philippe Reines

She later followed up with this message containing a favorable Clinton quote from the hearing

Elise Labott is currently on a two-week suspension from the network, which went into effect last week after she sent out a tweet criticizing House bill to block Syrian refugees from the United States.

Some of Labott's colleagues in the news media have rushed to defend her conduct, insisting that she was not being used as a mouthpiece for Clinton but rather was working a high-placed source.

‘I'm truly disheartened by the rush to punish talented reporters. Nothing untoward has happened here," said Washington Free Beacon reporter Adam Kredo on social media. [Labott] is as neutral as they come. And talented reporter.’

Sidelined: Labott is currently on a two-week suspension from the network, which went into effect last week

Labott was pulled off air after sending this tweet criticizing Republican efforts to block Syrian refugees coming to the U.S.

Ms Labott later apologized for her tweet which said the 'Statue of Liberty bows head in anguish'

Andrew Kaczynski, of BuzzFed, sounded a similar note, telling the Washington Examiner that the kind of email exchanges Labott had had with Reines are not at all uncommon between reporters and sources.

Labott, who lives in Washington D.C., has had a long career at the network, starting as a foreign news reporter in 2000. She completed a Masters in Communications and Media Studies at New School University in 1995 and has a Bachelor's Degree in International Relations from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

She was named Global Affairs Correspondent in July 2014.