Clinton Campaign Wrestled with Tone of NH Speeches: WikiLeaks

The latest round of emails released by WikiLeaks hackers appears to show the Hillary Clinton for Presdent campaign wrestling with populist, middle-class themes in speeches in an effort to thwart a surging Bernie Sanders campaign – while media outlets appeared to bend editorial judgment when covering the campaign.

In an email from April 2015, John Podesta and Jennifer Palmieri tackled the tenor of Hillary Clinton’s campaign announcement speech and whether or not the campaign should use the term “everyday Americans.” In the exchanges, which also included other campaign officials, they tried to make the speeches more identifiable to New Hampshire.

In another leaked email just before New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary, Podesta appears to show his frustration with the Granite Staters in an exchange with a contact at the Center for American Progress, a 501(c)(3) which calls itself “an independent nonpartisan policy institute” dedicated to “improving the lives of all Americans, through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action.” After seeing polls showing Sanders with a huge lead, Podesta reportedly wrote, “What is wrong w the people of Nh?”

Sanders won the primary by nearly 50,000 votes.

The media’s helping hand?

In other emails, media outlets covering the campaign before the New Hampshire primary appear to be assisting the campaign with its coverage.

In one exchange, Marjorie Pritchard, the op-ed editor of the Boston Globe reached out to Podesta for an opinion piece “that would give her a big presence” noting that there were news stories about Clinton’s New Hampshire effort forthcoming.

Lifezette.com also revealed today that the New York Times gave Clinton “veto power” over quotes used in one of its reporter’s features in the summer of 2015, including a comment about Sarah Palin and moose stew. Clinton reportedly told the reporter that she had actually eaten moose stew before.

"So that's why I always got a big kick out of Sarah Palin with all of her, 'We're cooking up some moose stew here,'" she said.

Palmieri, however, rejected the use of the quote, and in the story, the quote read, "She had seen a few in her day, she told me. 'I've eaten moose, too,' she said. 'I've had moose stew.'"

In other emails, New York Times writer and CNBC anchor John Harwood exchanged an email with Podesta bragging about provoking Donald Trump at the CNBC debate in late 2015 in Colorado.

Donna Brazile, who was a CNN commentator during the primaries but is now the Democratic National Committee chairwoman, and Palmieri about a death penalty question that was expected to be asked at a CNN town hall in March.

“From time to time I get the questions in advance,” the email subject stated, with Brazile stating, “Here's one that worries me about HRC.”

Read the full list of more than 1,000 released emails is here.

Republicans react

While Republicans have been fending off fallout from the Donald Trump lewd comment video from an off-air "Access Hollywood" interview 11 years ago, they also took advantage of the latest leaks to take some shots of their own.

Jennifer Horn, the chairwoman of the New Hampshire Republican Committee, called on Democrats backing Clinton to apologize to the people of the state for Podesta’s "disparaging remark” and “shameful comment,” and the “contempt and disdain that her campaign has for” the state.

“It's clear that Hillary Clinton’s campaign hates the Granite State because they are still stung by her overwhelming loss to Bernie Sanders in our First in the Nation Primary,” she added.

Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, also reacted to the latest dump – which included an apparent interaction between the U.S. Department of Justice and the Clinton campaign regarding tens of thousands of missing emails – saying that the “deeply disturbing” revelation raises even more questions about Bill Clinton’s tarmac meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

“Hillary Clinton jeopardized our national security and sensitive diplomatic efforts with the secret email server she set up to hide corruption at her State Department,” he said. “Instead of facing consequences for her actions like others have, she’s been protected at every turn by the Obama Administration so she can continue the failed policies of the last eight years. President Obama promised in 2008 he would change Washington, and the one area where he appears to be succeeding is in further shaking Americans’ faith in their government. The more emails that come out, the more the American people see that the system is rigged in favor of political elites and against everyday Americans. How can we remain a vibrant democracy and a beacon to the world when the actions of our leaders are creating such a crisis of confidence in our institutions?”