By , Chuck Ross
Published December 20, 2015
A CNN reporter who was recently suspended for two weeks forviolating the network’s editorial guidelines showed up in anew trove of State Department emails released on Tuesday in whichshe appears to have coordinated social media posts with a topHillary Clinton State Department aide during the former secretaryof state’s Jan. 23, 2013 Senate testimony about the Benghaziattacks.
The emails, which were released to the website Gawker, showthat Elise Labott, a foreign affairs reporter at CNN, took guidancefrom Clinton aide Philippe Reines by posting a tweet criticizingKentucky Sen. Rand Paul for asking Clinton tough questions during aSenate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Sept. 11, 2012Benghazi attacks.
Labott also coordinated with Reines to post a favorablequote from Clinton’s testimony, whichshe gave just a week before she left office.
In the Reines emails, which are the subject of a Gawker lawsuitagainst the State Department, Labott appears to pick upon a previous conversation she was having with Reines during theBenghazi hearing, asking him: “are you sure rand paulwasn’t at any hearings?”
Five minutes after sending that email, Labott sent Reinesanother message sharing what she had tweeted about Paul.
Hours later, Labott and Reines were at it again.
“She was great. well done. I hope you are going to have abig drink tonight,” Labott wrote to Reines, complimentingClinton’s performance.
Reines followed up that compliment by telling Labott that he had“suggested a good Tweet.”
Labott said that she had not received an email concerninganother tweet. Reines wrote back “Pin,” an apparentreference to a private messaging system.
Labott wrote back “will get back to you.” Elevenminutes later she sent an email reading, “done.”
According to free-market advocate Phil Kerpen, who scouredthrough the emails on Tuesday, Labott sent the following message atReines’ request:
ARB is a reference to the Accountability Review Board thatClinton appointed to investigate the Benghazi attacks.
The release of the emails caps a rough month for Labott. OnThursday, she posted a biased tweet decrying the House’spassage of a bill that would halt the program allowing Syrian andIraqi refugees into the U.S. until federal agencies can ensure thatthey don’t pose a national security risk. CNN suspendedLabott the next day for violating its editorial guidelines.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/emails-cnn-reporter-coordinated-with-hillary-aide-to-smear-rand-paul-during-2013-benghazi-hearing