In the most recent debate for Democratic presidential candidates, Tim Russert confronted Hillary Clinton on the issue of records from her husband’s White House. Russert argued, “[A]s you well know, President Clinton has asked the National Archives not to do anything until 2012” about records pertaining to communications between the Clintons.
The senator noted that many documents are already available and the Archives are moving forward on the rest. Russert were undeterred: “But there was a letter written by President Clinton specifically asking that any communication between you and the president not be made available to the public until 2012. Would you lift that ban?”
Clinton said that wasn’t her decision, but added, “[C]ertainly we’ll move as quickly as our circumstances and the processes of the National Archives permits.”
It seemed, based on Russert’s question, like this was a bit of an embarrassment for Clinton. After all, much of her experience comes from her years in the White House. If Bill Clinton has tried to keep relevant records under wraps until 2012, it looks as if this might be part of an effort to conceal part of the senator’s background.
That is, if Russert’s question was right. It wasn’t.
As eriposte noted, the AP reports today that Bill Clinton has explained the letter pertaining to 2012. It looks like Russert had it backwards — the former president was trying to release more materials, not less.
Former President Clinton said Friday that a letter he wrote to the National Archives was to expedite release of his papers, not slow the process or hide anything as rivals are suggesting in criticism of his wife. […]
“She was incidental to the letter, it was done five years ago, it was a letter to speed up presidential releases, not to slow them down,” the former president told reporters Friday. “And she didn’t even, didn’t know what he was talking about. And now that I’ve described to you what the letter said, you can readily understand why she didn’t know what he was talking about.”
Russert’s question “was breathtakingly misleading,” Bill Clinton said.
An NBC spokesperson insisted Russert’s question “was entirely on the mark,” but that it appears to be simply wrong. Former President Clinton isn’t required to release any documents until 2012, but he wrote to the Archives to expedite the process ahead of schedule.
He added, “I signed a routine letter to the archives five years ago to accelerate the release of my records, which five years later in a different context is misrepresented as an attempt to block information on my wife.”
Let this be a reminder to all of us — Russert’s quest for “gotchas” is so great, his questions are often wrong.