Newly disclosed emails reveal White House fingerprints on effort to manage Hillary Clinton's email scandal

  • Revelations that Hillary Clinton kept a private email server caused a media firestorm in March 2015
  • Newly unearthed emails reveal coordination between top White House and State Department officials to try to tamp down the scandal
  • In one email, the White House communications director tries to prevent emails from coming up in a CBS interview of Secretary of State John Kerry
  • 'Think we can get this done so he is not asked about email'
  • Jennifer Palmieri, the former White House official who made the plea, is now a senior advisor to Hillary Clinton
  • State aide warned of 'swirl of crap'  regarding the email scandal 
  • White House official: 'there was no discussion' with network about the questions, and the effort was to kill interviews alltogether

Newly unearthed State Department emails reveal a White House effort to keep Hillary Clinton's swirling email scandal from coming up during a televised interview with Secretary of State John Kerry.

The emails, obtained through a Republican National Committee freedom of information records request, show White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri urging her counterpart at the State Department try to keep the issue from coming up when Kerry got interviewed during foreign travel. 

'Between us on the shows…think we can get this done so he is not asked about email' asked White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri, who now holds a senior communications roll with Clinton's presidential campaign.

The email was a reference to Kerry's upcoming appearance on CBS 'Face the Nation.' 

MESSAGING: Former White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri, who currently holds that role in Hillary Clinton's campaign, as a top State press aide to try to keep Clinton's email scandal from coming up in a John Kerry interview

MESSAGING: Former White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri, who currently holds that role in Hillary Clinton's campaign, as a top State press aide to try to keep Clinton's email scandal from coming up in a John Kerry interview

She sent the missive to Jen Psaki, Kerry's press secretary who previously worked for the White House and would succeed Palmieri in the communications post, in emails obtained by the Wall Street Journal

Psaki wrote back with a victory message: 'Good to go on killing CBS idea,' she wrote.

And she put forth another communications strategy: “And we are going to hold on any other TV options just given the swirl of crap out there,' she wrote.

The initial took place about 10 days after the initial bombshell report in March that Clinton maintained a private email server out of her home. It would later be revealed that she had no official government email account.

After a lengthy investigation, FBI Director James Comey found Clinton had been 'extremely careless' but declined to recommend charges for mishandling of classified information.

'GOOD TO GO': Then-State Department official indicated that the email issue wouldn't come up in the CBS interview ¿ and it didn't

'GOOD TO GO': Then-State Department official indicated that the email issue wouldn't come up in the CBS interview – and it didn't

CARRYING THE FLAG: Palmieri was working for the White House at the time, but she immediately joined Hillary Clinton's campaign

CARRYING THE FLAG: Palmieri was working for the White House at the time, but she immediately joined Hillary Clinton's campaign

Psaki was considering nixing all Sunday show interviews for her boss given the 'swirl of crap' surrounding the email scandal. But Kerry ultimately appeared on CBS from Cairo

Psaki was considering nixing all Sunday show interviews for her boss given the 'swirl of crap' surrounding the email scandal. But Kerry ultimately appeared on CBS from Cairo

OFF LIMITS? CBS said no subject was off limits during the interview, when Secretary of State John Kerry spoke about Iran but didn't get a question on Clinton's emerging email scandal

OFF LIMITS? CBS said no subject was off limits during the interview, when Secretary of State John Kerry spoke about Iran but didn't get a question on Clinton's emerging email scandal

In the interview, Kerry, who was traveling in Egypt, fielded questions from correspondent Margaret Brennan on about the controversial Iran nuclear deal, a letter from GOP senators, Syria, other issues, but not the email scandal.

Psaki, who honed her political chops on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, took some ribbing from Palmieri about her use of the phrase 'swirl of crap' in the exchange.

'Ha I mean—the challenging stories out there,' she responded.

A CBS spokeswoman told the paper the network had 'made no commitments,' but the statement didn't confirm whether or in what fashion the White House had made any request or say whether the topic came up.

'No subject was off-limits when this interview was arranged, as is the CBS News standard,' network spokeswoman Catlin Conand told the paper. 

An Administration official told DailyMail.com there was 'no discussion of questions' with CBS, and that it would have been 'only natural' to consider whether a current official – Kerry – was best positioned to field questions on the hot topic.

'The Iran negotiations were weeks away from a deadline, Senator Cotton had just written a controversial open letter to Iranian leaders, and the deteriorating situation in Syria remained front and center, and any communications professional would have advised his or her boss against going out to do a round of interviews,' said the official.

Before Palmieri contacted Psaki, 'Psaki had already concluded she would strongly recommend against Secretary Kerry doing Sunday Shows. That is clear from her response that she was working to kill it. "It" is a reference to having the Secretary do Sunday shows,' wrote the official.

'Second, the Administration has always been transparent about the fact that we were in touch with the Clinton campaign about stories related to her time at the State Department. And it would have been only natural, to consider whether a current official would be best positioned with the necessary information to answer questions, about his or her predecessor,' said the official.

'Third, CBS confirmed that there was no discussion of questions and what should or should not be asked. During the interview, which Secretary Kerry ended up doing in an effort to pushback on the letter from Senator Cotton which was the focus of the interview, he was NOT asked about the emails. But that was a decision made by CBS,' the official continued. 'He was asked about Iran and Syria.'


The comments below have not been moderated.

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.

Who is this week's top commenter? Find out now