CNN Commentator: Powell, Rice Revelations Validate Clinton's Email Explanation

Written by Media Matters Staff

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CNN political commentator Errol Louis explained that Hillary Clinton's email use as secretary of state was typical of “what happens in the way of classified material” and noted that the new report that other former secretaries of state had information in their personal emails that was retroactively deemed classified is “a validator” that “helps make her case.” Yesterday, NBC News reported “State Department officials have determined that classified information was sent to the personal email accounts of former Secretary of State Colin Powell and the senior staff of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.” Clinton has been the target of numerous debunked attacks over her email use when she served as secretary of state. From the February 5 edition of CNN's New Day:

CHRIS CUOMO (HOST): Do you think the best thing to happen for her fate in New Hampshire, despite the yawning gap in polls between her and Bernie, was something that wasn't about the debate, it was the news about Powell and Rice and what emails may have been later classified as, you know, confidential information within their own experience as secretary of state. 

ERROL LOUIS: Well you know, what's interesting about that, Chris, is that nothing factually has changed about that. I mean, the Clinton camp has been saying this all along, that what happens in the way of classified material, sometimes it is after the fact. It it's very frustrating and difficult to get across, you know. Certainly the Republicans who have been attacking her don't get into any of the niceties about when things were classified. They just say that, you know, she's under investigation and maybe she's going to go to jail. But to sort of bring, as a validator, sombody as sort of revered, frankly, as Colin Powell really, sort of, helps her make the case in a way that she wasn't able to do before. And so, an amazingly good stroke of luck for her, and something that frankly they probably should have turned to a long time ago. Because it's not like Colin Powell said this for the first time. This was known for weeks now. And instead of floundering around, I think now she's kind of getting her footing on this.