WASHINGTON – Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine didn’t get to answer many policy questions during a visit to ABC “This Week” with interviewer Martha Raddatz.
It was all about the ever-escalating scandal over Hillary Clinton’s emails.
When asked by Raddatz if the American people deserve a better explanation of why she didn’t understand what classified marks on emails meant and why she deleted emails after congressional investigators requested them, Kaine, a sitting senator from Virginia, responded:
“Well, and I think, Martha, they’ve gotten a better explanation,” he said. “Because to add to what she just said, the reason these materials are being made public is that Hillary Clinton said I want the public to see them. When Congress asked the FBI, ‘Give us your notes,’ Hillary said, yes, that’s great. Give them your notes but let the American public see it. And what these notes demonstrate is, in very significant detail, why the FBI chose not to go forward with any additional proceeding. She did make a mistake and she made by deciding she wanted to use one device rather than multiple devices. She’s apologized for that. She said it was a mistake. And she’s learned from it. But these notes, which Hillary urged be made public, demonstrate clearly why the FBI saw no need for additional criminal proceedings.
He claimed Mrs. Clinton has been open and honest, while Donald Trump refuses to release his tax returns.
Raddatz pressed, noting that a majority of Americans neither trust her and disapproved of the FBI’s decision not to indict.
“This is an issue that Americans care about,” she said. “So, again, isn’t this an issue that she needs to better explain?”
Kaine repeated what he said previously.
“But Senator Kaine, she hasn’t answered questions,” said Raddatz. “Shouldn’t she be answering questions about this?”
Kaine responded: “I have been – Martha, I just, I just have to disagree with you. I have sat with her while she has answered questions. While she’s answered questions about what she did and why, and then she said, look, by using one device I made a mistake. I apologize for it, I’ve learned something, and I wouldn’t do it again. And I want all the facts to come out. I’ll talk to congressional committees, we’ll provide the material. The FBI released these materials to the public. But on the other hand we’ve got a candidate in Donald Trump who won’t release his tax returns to the public after he promised to do so. And talk about national security – he has openly encouraged Russia to engage in cyber hacking to try to find more e-mails or materials, and we know that this cyberattack on the DNC (Democratic National Committee) was likely done by Russia.”
That’s when he inexplicably introduced the specter of President Richard Nixon’s 1974 resignation in the wake of the 1972 Watergate scandal – more than 40 years ago – and misstated that he had been impeached.
“A president was impeached and had to resign over an attack on the DNC during a presidential election in 1972,” he said. “This is serious business. So contrast the Hillary situation, where the FBI said there’s no need for legal proceedings, with an attack that is being encouraged by Donald Trump on the DNC by Russia similar to what led to resignation of a president 30 (sic) years ago.”
Raddatz continued the grilling.
“Let me go through a few specifics,” she said. “From the very beginning of this, Secretary Clinton consistently said she never sent or received any material marked classified. We learned earlier this summer that is not true, but we did learn this week from her interview with the FBI she couldn’t even identify the (c) classification in an e-mail and consistently could not identify classified information in e-mails the FBI showed her. How could she make such definitive statements if she couldn’t even recognize classified material?”
Kaine responded: “Well, remember, my recollection of the Jim Comey testimony before Congress was that many – that there were e-mails that contained classified information that had been improperly marked. So when she received the e-mail, the material that was classified, which is supposed to be flagged and identified as classified, in many instances was improperly labeled. Now I’m on two committees in the Senate, the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, where we do look at classified material. But we look at so much material, unless it is specifically pulled out and identified, it is difficult to know sometimes whether a statement or a paragraph is classified or not. And that’s what she was saying. Unless it is identified in the way that it should be, it is difficult to know whether a particular material is classified or not.
Raddatz then questioned Kaine on whether Hillary Clinton’s so-called “reset” with Russia could be characterized as a success.
“Look, I don’t think you can make an argument that the relationship with Russia is in a good place right now,” he admitted. “But that’s not the U.S.’s fault; that’s Vladimir Putin’s aggressive and imperialistic ambitions. Here is a guy who violated international law at the end of the Bush administration by moving into the Ossetia region of Georgia, and then he’s violated international law by annexing the Crimean portion of the Ukraine and destabilizing the Eastern Ukraine. Donald Trump was not even aware that Putin had gone into Crimea as recently as two weeks ago. He promised that Putin would not, and had to be reminded that Putin went in and took over Crimea two years ago. And this is just one of a number of very, very troubling instances where Trump’s coziness with Putin, his coziness with Russia – look, he’s already had to let go one campaign chairperson, Paul Manafort, because of Manafort’s ties to pro-Russian elements in Ukraine and Russia.”
Raddatz interrupted, saying “Let’s go back to the reset. I want to go back to reset, Senator Kaine. I want to talk about Secretary Clinton again. Poland’s minister of foreign affairs told Time magazine the Russians interpreted the reset as a kind of American weakness. It suggested that NATO is not as strong of an alliance as it was and that gave Russia an opportunity to act. They’re talking about Secretary Clinton there.”
“Martha, I think trying to – yes, but look, I don’t believe in a ‘blame America first’ strategy,” Kaine responded. “Russia went into Georgia, the South Ossetia region of Georgia, when President Bush was in office, before President Obama was elected. And he went into Crimea during the Obama administration. But to try to say that’s the U.S.’ fault is ridiculous. The guy is a dictator who represses journalists – and there’s another tie. Donald Trump is banning journalists from outlets he doesn’t like from covering him on a campaign. He’s taken some lessons from Putin and others. But to say that Putin’s imperial ambitions are the fault of anybody in the United States is ridiculous.”
Raddatz: “OK, let’s talk about relationships with the press and you talk about Donald Trump. Secretary Clinton has not held a press conference in 274 days. You argue that she’s talked to press on the campaign trail, but our campaign reporters and others say she doesn’t really answer that many questions. Is this going to change?”
Kaine: “Martha, she’s had hundreds interviews in the last year. And I got to push back on the notion that she hasn’t done a press conference. She gave a speech to the National Association of Black Journalists within the last month where there were also journalists, Hispanic journalists, there. And she did a press conference there. And members of mainstream media outlets, television networks, asked her questions during that press conference. We’re about to switch into a phase of the campaign where we will be on planes and the press will be on the planes with us, which is something that Donald Trump does not allow. We are not banning press outlets from covering public events. And so, look, all the time as Hillary is out on the trail, she’s talking to the press, hundreds of interviews. I’m doing the same. The Labor Day to Election Day stretch, it’s going to ramp up even more. But we’re not a campaign that is acting like Putin and other dictators and banning press outlets from even attending public events. That’s not American but that’s what Donald Trump is doing.”
Raddatz: “So we can expect a press conference, yes or no?”
Kaine: “There’s been one in the last month and you’re going to see Hillary very, very accessible to the press as I will be between now and November 8.”
Most of the national press dispute that either the meetings with the black press or the Hispanic press constituted news conferences because she only answered a few questions from pre-screened journalists.
