Halperin: ‘A Democrat Who’s Being Honest’ Would Say ‘There Are Things to Look At’ With Hillary’s Emails

Bloomberg Politics Managing Editor Mark Halperin stated “even a Democrat who’s being honest” would admit “there’s things to look at” with regards to Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails on Thursday’s “MSNBC Live.”

Halperin said that in previous Capitol Hill testimonies, Clinton “did very very well,” and “the republicans go into this hearing on the defensive because of what [Representative] Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said, because, I think they made a huge mistake not separating the investigations into the Benghazi events and the emails. And so, if you were betting on the pure politics of this, you’d say the Republicans better be a lot more prepared to do well in this hearing than they seem to be right now, or she will leave stronger, which is what she thinks, and is why she’s so eager to testify.”

He added, “if you look at the history of the United States, and the high-profile hearings, Watergate, Iran-Contra, etc., There’s always dual motives. There is a need for Congressional oversight of executive branch actions. There’s also a desire on the [part of] the Republicans to damage the Democrats’ likely nominee. So, the way you handle that, if you’re smart, and you’re doing the right thing, is to try to kind of segment out, let the politics take care of themselves, and do a substantive hearing. No one, even a Democrat who’s being honest, would doubt that there are things to look at. Now, Benghazi’s been looked at. This committee is trying to look at different aspects of it. There’s no doubt there’s things to look at on the email. They’re going to have to, though, run a very quality hearing to overcome some of the political disadvantages they brought on themselves.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett