Dan Rather: Bossie Appointment to Trump Camp ‘Has To Be a Great Concern’ For Clinton, ‘Should Be Worried’

Journalist Dan Rather speaks during A Conversation With Dan Rather on Day 3 of the 23rd An
Matthew Eisman/Getty Images for Hamptons International Film Festival

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show,” former CBS anchor Dan Rather stated David Bossie’s appointment as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s Deputy Campaign Manager “has to be a great concern for the Clinton camp.”

Rather said, “Well, with this Mr. Bossie becoming a major character, this has to be a great concern for the Clinton camp. This guy is a professional political hitman, and he’s very effective at doing it. And I’ve been saying for some time this campaign is going to be as nasty as a frat house bathroom on New Year’s Eve, and here’s further proof positive. But the Trump forces and Trump himself, they feel that they’re moving, and the polls indicate that. The Clinton polls have been inching backwards, and the Trump polls have been sort of surging forward, and I think they see a real chance to score here. They think a combination of the emails, the Clinton foundation, the global initiative — the Clinton Global Initiative, and just any dirt they can get. you’re going to see more of this as they go. and by the way, i think this ups the ante for the coming debates. There are going to be three presidential debates, and this raises the stakes in those debates.”

Rather later commented on Bossie’s, Kellyanne Conway’s and Breitbart News executive chairman, Stephen K. Bannon ties with Robert Mercer. He stated that Mercer wants the power of being a “president-maker.” He continued, “And when you ask yourself, what was Donald Trump thinking when he delivered that speech in Arizona? Remember, after he met the Mexican president, which was a hellish mix of…venom, and was one of those things that ran counter to his effort to convince white suburbanites, which is basically what his campaign is aimed at right now, white suburbanites, to get them to accept the fact, well, I’m an okay guy. I’m not a bigot. I’m not a racist. You know, I am of presidential temper. Well, he was making some headway with that, and then he delivers this Arizona speech. I didn’t understand it then, I don’t understand it now as a campaign strategy.”

Rather concluded, “[T]he Clinton people, they should be worried, because Donald Trump has stayed on the offensive all the way through the campaign — since he won the primaries, and the Clintons have been basically on the defensive. Placed on the defensive again today about the emails. And by the way, you heard it here first if it happens. I would not be surprised to see the Clintons announce at some stage that the global initiative, the big Clinton affair, in September, that this September will be the last time that they hold that. They haven’t announced it yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them do it, because they’re taking so much heat from that and the emails.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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