Trump Campaign Manager Admits Walked-Back Fox Report Was Wrong, Then Celebrates “The Damage Is Done”

Kellyanne Conway: “Fine. It Just -- It Doesn't Change What's In Voter's Minds Right Now”

From the November 3 edition of MSNBC's The 11th Hour with Brian Williams:

Video file

BRIAN WILLIAMS (HOST): Donald Trump is trying to criminalize Clinton to voters, which on the stump twice today meant repeating a key provision of a Fox News report that turned out not to be quite as reported.

[...]

WILLIAMS: Law enforcement officials tell NBC News after taking a look at allegations about the Clinton Foundation specifically, this case has not moved an inch in months, in their words. Tonight, I spoke to Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway about that specific claim of a likely indictment, which has been walked back now. Here, a portion of that interview.

Your candidate date today on the stump, a quote from Donald Trump “It was reported that an avalanche of information is coming in, the FBI agents say their investigation is likely to yield an indictment.” This has been walked back, the indictment portion, by Fox News who originally reported it and by NBC News which has done subsequent reporting on this. Will Donald Trump amend his stump speech to walk back the same thing?

KELLYANNE CONWAY: Well, the damage is done to Hillary Clinton, that no matter how it's being termed, the voters are hearing it for what it is, a culture of corruption. We see reports tonight, it confirmed by a different network, Brian, that there are new e-mails that have to do with Hillary Clinton in this Anthony Weiner laptop situation, I suppose.

And I mean everybody I think suspected that out of 650,000 there might be something new there, and now we're getting confirmation here from Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the appropriate committee saying that he just fears that we would have a President Hillary Clinton who would face all types of investigations. You have Chairman McCaul saying that she could easily be impeached or indicted.

In other words, you have responsible members of Congress coming forward and saying based on what they know, and what they see, and what their experience is, that we could just be living this nightmare from basically the moment she was elected and took office.

And I just -- I'm wondering why more Democrats aren't asking Hillary Clinton to step aside, get off the ticket for the good of the party, for the good of the election, for the good of the country? And why not a single Democrat, as far as I can tell, has unendorsed her or or has said I really don't want to run on the ticket with someone who's not under one but two FBI investigations.

WILLIAMS: As a lawyer, though, you would concede “indictment” is not only a term of art, it's a term of law, and that's a big difference to use the expression “likely indictment” when all the reporting is to the contrary.

CONWAY: Fine. It just -- it doesn't change what's in voters' minds right now, and you see in the your own polling, you see it in other polling, Brian, which is even though the polls were tightening before last Friday's explosive announcement by Mr. Comey, you see that voters are putting in this large voter cauldron of impressions and issues and images and individuals and issues from which they eventually make a choice.

WILLIAMS: We should note here, NBC News has checked out the report that Conway mentioned about new e-mails related to the Clinton server. A senior official told us they could not confirm that.

Previously:

Maddow Examines How Fox's Debunked Clinton Report Began With FBI Agents Presenting Breitbart Hit Pieces As Evidence

MSNBC's Pete Williams: FBI Officials Tell Me Fox News’ Latest Clinton Email Report “Is Just Not True”

Fox's Baier Continues To Push Unsubstantiated Clinton Foundation Investigation Claims As Other Networks Debunk

Bret Baier Is Serving As A Mouthpiece For Unknown Sources On FBI Stories