An early morning dust-up exploded on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" when co-host Mika
Brzezinski went after David Brock, founder of Media Matters, over a new book purported to show illicit collusion between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and foreign donors to the Clinton Foundation, and over Clinton's deletion of emails.
The book,
"Clinton Cash: "The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich" by Peter Schweizer, is not due to be released until next month, but has ignited a firestorm of controversy with reported claims that during Clinton's tenure as secretary of state, foreign governments donated massive amounts of money to the Clinton Foundation in return for special State Department consideration,
Politico notes.
Brock, who was a prominent member of Clinton’s PAC Priorities USA Action, said he expects the book to be "100 percent innuendo" and said, "I think this is a political put up job and I can smell it a mile away."
The Washington Examiner posted video of the exchange onto YouTube.
Story continues below video.
However, when he suggested that journalists examine Clinton's record, Brzezinski went near-ballistic, telling Brock, "But we kind of can’t. Because what should be in the public record or at least viewed by the State Department has been scrubbed. Don’t deflect. I’m talking about the ones that were scrubbed. How can you get answers from the ones that were scrubbed that might be considered, quote, personal business? There is no answer, is there?"
She was referring to the 30,000 emails that Clinton has admitted she deleted from the personal Internet server she solely used while secretary of state.
When Brock claimed that Clinton's actions were legal, Brzezinski, with unconcealed contempt, said, "I don't need you to give me a lesson on the regulations of the State Department,"
Mediaite reports.
She asked, "Are we going to do this again?" She was referring to Brock's March 4 appearance on the show when Brock alleged that a New York Times story that Clinton had violated the law in deleting the emails was incorrect.
Mediaite reports that on that show Brzezinski said to Brock, "I’m not sure what planet you’re on right now. Are you reading the same thing we’re reading?"
Brock criticized Schweizer's work on "Morning Joe," noting that he "runs something called the Government Accountability Initiative" which allegedly is "subsidized by Hillary Clinton’s enemies."
In a previous Schweizer book,
"Disney: The Mouse Betrayed," he noted, "The betrayal here apparently is that Disney's policies are to treat their gay employees fairly and to allow gay visitors to the park. I'm gay and I think that's wrong. I think it's cruel."