Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton’s former campaign manager, cast doubt on some of the content found in former interim Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile’s forthcoming book in an interview with CNN Monday.
Mook said that while he and his Clinton campaign colleagues haven’t seen a full copy of Brazile’s ‘Hacks: The Insider Story of the Break-Ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House,’ which comes out Tuesday, ‘We certainly don’t recognize the campaign she describes.’
‘We also don’t recall some of the events she said that happened,’ Mook added.
Hillary Clinton’s former Campaign Manager Robby Mook suggested Donna Brazile’s publisher pressured her to put out her 2016 tell-all on election day, a distraction that could hurt Democratic efforts in Virginia and New Jersey
Donna Brazile, who held the position of interim Democratic National Committee chair through last year’s presidential election, has a new book out Tuesday that details her version of the 2016 campaign, which Robby Mook called into question Monday on CNN
CNN’s Alisyn Camerota asked Mook why he thought Brazile would write this tell-all.
‘I don’t know Alisyn. I honestly don’t know,’ he replied.
Clinton’s former top campaign aide suggested that Brazile had bent to her publisher’s pressure – not necessarily with the book’s content – but certainly with its timing, as it comes out on election day.
‘Look, I’ll be honest with you, I’m sure Donna was under a lot of pressure from her publisher to put this book out right on this election week, when we have critical elections happening around the country,’ Mook said. ‘I wish she’d just put her foot down and said no, I’m not going to release it around these elections.’
Tuesday marks the release of Brazile’s tome ‘Hacks: The Insider Story of the Break-Ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House,’ and a return of voters to the ballot box, with key gubernatorial races taking place in New Jersey and Virginia.
‘We should be focused on turning voters right now,’ Mook argued.
Instead, with Wednesday marking the one year anniversary since Clinton lost the presidential election to Trump, Democrats are again revisiting 2016 thanks to Brazile’s book.
Early excerpts include the revelation that Clinton’s campaign had signed a joint fundraising agreement with the DNC.
In return for cash, the DNC gave the Clinton campaign decision-making power for the party.
The deal was in place before the conclusion of the Democratic primaries.
‘The funding arrangement with [Hillary For America] and the victory fund agreement was not illegal, but it sure looked unethical,’ Brazile wrote in an excerpt published by Politico Magazine.
On CNN Monday, Mook argued that wasn’t the case.
‘I just want to say, as a campaign, we were incredibly grateful to Donna Brazile for stepping up and taking the reins of the DNC during a very difficult time and all of us who know Donna consider her a colleague and a friend,’ Mook began.
‘The allegation she’s making simply isn’t true,’ Mook pivoted.
‘And, actually, the arrangement in question has been released, it’s out in the public, everybody can see it and the same thing was offered to both campaigns,’ Mook argued.
Mook said because the DNC was broke the political party offered a similar agreement to both Sen. Bernie Sanders and Clinton, though Clinton’s campaign actually took the party up on the offer.
‘The difference was Hillary Clinton actually raised money into that and both campaigns were told if you raise money in you’ll have some say over how it’s spent to prepare for the general election,’ Mook said.
Mook argued that Clinton should actually be getting credit, not scorn, for what she had done.
‘What’s disturbing to me about this is, Hillary Clinton stepped up and literally saved the DNC,’ Mook said.
Mook then hinted that Brazile, who became interim DNC chair after Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned in July over the email hack, was just trying to sell books.
‘I’m just saying I’m sure her publisher put her under a lot of pressure,’ Mook answered when asked about Brazile’s intentions.
He said Democrats needed to be paying attention to the elections tomorrow in Virginia and New Jersey, often interpreted as bellwethers a year before the Congressional midterms.
‘That should be the focus right now,’ Mook said.
‘And again, we are so grateful to Donna, to all of us who know her, we’re puzzled,’ Mook added.
Mook also took issue with Brazile suggesting that men dominated the leadership of the campaign, pointing to a number of women in prominent positions, including the campaign’s communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, and the digital director, Katie Dowd.
Camerota interpreted that as Mook saying readers shouldn’t trust what’s in the book.
Mook didn’t say yes or no.
‘We don’t recognize a lot of the situations and certainly the tone and tenor of the campaign,’ Clinton’s ex-campaign manager said.