Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager had very few answers for the panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Wednesday, repeatedly dodging questions on Clinton’s foreign policy until one host asked, “Why do we have you here?”
Things got awkward as the interview turned to Syria and co-host Willie Geist asked campaign manager Robby Mook about Clinton’s biggest regret in how the crisis has been handled there.
“Well, obviously she’s been out of office for some time now,” Mook replied.
Geist reminded him that Clinton was in office when the conflict began.
“Well, right, but, you know, she – I think she’s well regarded for her leadership as secretary of state. She came out of that office with a 70 percent approval rating,” Mook said, adding that Clinton has released a “clear and decisive plan” to defeat the Islamic State terror group.
Geist tried again to draw Mook back to Syria, saying, “I understand, Robby. What about in Syria, though? She supported the drawing of the red line. Obviously she was out of her office when Assad used chemical weapons. Was it a mistake to draw the red line if the President was not willing to do something about it when it was crossed?”
Mook responded that because the decision not to respond after Assad crossed the “red line” of using chemical weapons was made after Clinton left office, that would be a question for Obama.
Geist pressed Mook on whether Clinton was “disappointed” that Obama did not act after Assad used chemical weapons on civilians, but Mook demurred, “you’d have to ask her about that question.”
“You’re here to speak for her, Robby. Would you care to discuss that?” Geist asked as Mook started laughing.
The campaign manager tried to recover, saying Donald Trump won’t reveal his “secret” plan to defeat ISIL.
Geist asked Mook what Clinton would do to address Syria on day one in office. Mook gave a boilerplate answer on Clinton’s stated plans.
So contributor Mike Barnicle stepped up to the plate, saying “we do realize that you are not secretary of state,” but posed a hypothetical debate question about how Clinton would handle Syria differently than Obama.
“Again, I think you’re going to have to ask her that question,” Mook replied. “That’s a matter of policy and I’m going to leave it for her.”
The non-answer was enough to make co-host Joe Scarborough jump in.
“We love you, buddy, but what are you here for if you can’t answer basic questions?” he asked. “I don’t know if there’s a – I mean, we may be tiptoeing into Gary Johnson territory here if you don’t know the answer to that basic of a question. What is the response to Aleppo? Then why do we have you here?”
Mook argued that the hosts were broaching “new policy questions,” which didn’t fly with the “Morning Joe” crew.
“New? Aleppo’s been around for – Syria’s been around for some time. The red line being drawn has been around for some time. I’m not being difficult here at all,” Scarborough replied. “These are basic questions.”
“I’m not being difficult either,” Clinton’s campaign managed replied. “I’m simply saying that she has laid out a plan to defeat ISIS and if there are new questions pertaining to Aleppo, I’m going to need to let her answer those.”
Watch a clip of the segment below via NBC News:
WATCH: On @Morning_Joe, Clinton campaign manager refuses to say how Clinton will handle #Aleppo crisis as president. https://t.co/jEpGgqbS0G
— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) September 21, 2016
Correction: This post has been updated to reflect that Mook said Clinton was no longer secretary of state when the Obama administration decided not to treat the use of chemical weapons in Syria as crossing a “red line.”
