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Published January 26, 2017
This is a rush transcript from "Special Report," April 8, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: President Obama asked about the upcoming Clinton campaign. Meantime, Bill Clinton, former president, in "Town and Country" magazine foreshadowing what will happen in the next few days, this launch. "My role should primarily be as the backstage advisor to her until we get much, much closer to the election. So our plan is to spend this whole year working on the foundation, which is by a good long stretch, the most transparent of all the presidential foundations and more transparent than a lot of other major foundations in the country." There defending the Clinton Foundation. He also went on to say, Kirsten, "I'm just not good at campaigning anymore."
KIRSTEN POWERS, COLUMNIST, USA TODAY: Oh, yes, he is the worst. He's a terrible politician.
He is he a great campaigner for himself. And he actually does a pretty good job for people, other Democrats, and generally was pretty good for Hillary. But as I think we all remember, there were some speed bumps last time, particularly in South Carolina. He can get very emotional and I think is more emotional about her than he even was about himself when he was running. So, they are going to have to prepare for that this time, to not have any sort of surprise Bill moments that draw negative media attention.
And also she is going to have the same issue she had last time, which is she going to be the president or is he going to be the president? He is going to have to stay in the background a little bit.
BAIER: Speaking of negative media attention, Steve, before this launch, you had obviously the e-mail situation that's not resolved. You had the Clinton Foundation funding by foreign governments while she is secretary of state. Now you have a new book called "The Residence" that's out about, among other things, their time in the White House. The author was on Fox today. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the staffers was called up to their bedroom and there was blood on the bed. And everyone on the staff -- it's rumored -- that this was because she hit him, clocked him with the book. And the interesting thing is a lot of these staffers, especially the women, thought, you know, this is great, like he deserves it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: It goes on to say that they didn't have a great track record at treating the staff well.
STEVE HAYES, SENIOR WRITER, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: Yes, I mean, look I think those are the salacious stories that seems to be apparent corroboration of things that we had heard before, that we had heard 15 years ago. I don't think those are likely to be the kind of things that will influence a decision one way or the other. I think it's much more interesting to see how she tries to resolve this e-mail question, the question of these foundations.
There is another new book coming out that's apparently got new information about that and about the overlap between the foundation and what she was doing as secretary of state. If those details are actually corroborated, if there is substance behind those criticisms, I think she is going to have a very difficult time defending herself.
BAIER: Charles?
KRAUTHAMMER: I like the fact that she clocked him with a book. I mean, it wasn't a poker, it wasn't a -- didn't clock him with a clock. I think it speaks well of the level of culture in the West Wing, East Wing. She hit him -- look, I would like to know what the book was. Perhaps it was "It Takes a Village."
Look, I think we are going to get all of these stories. And I think the story right now is they are going to try to leash Bill for the next year, year and a half. But I like the way he says I will be in the background until the end, and then they're going to unleash him, because he does well unleashed at the end and when he is, you know, in the full flower, as he was when he supported Obama.
BAIER: A closer, a closer. Kirsten, how is this campaign framed? Is it framed with this launch about breaking the glass ceiling? How is it framed?
POWERS: Well, I mean, that's the big question. I don't know the answer to it. I don't know that the glass ceiling thing is going to be an overt campaign theme. It's going to be always the underlying story. The same way Barack Obama never really said elect me, I'm going to be the first black president. It was just everybody else was saying it. And I suspect that she will let other people do that and carry that water for her.
BAIER: And in the Democratic Party, is there still this anxiety about one candidate?
POWERS: I think, yeah, I think most of them would like to see a primary. I think it will make her a better candidate. It will be better to have -- honestly, also, if we have looked at the way that she was during that press conference, she is obviously very stiff. And she needs before she goes up against a Republican she needs to have somebody that frankly she will vanquish but at least will give her a run for her money.
BAIER: In coming days. That's it for the panel. But stay tuned to see a very special moment during a very special week for one group of sports fans at least.
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