New Clinton emails reveal she has fawning Republican fans, calls Harriet Tubman 'my home girl'
The fifth batch of emails Hillary Clinton exchanged from a private server while secretary of state were released by the State Department Wednesday, and the more interesting ones show that she had issues with White House phone operators and warned of a "Fox-generated media storm" led by Sarah Palin.
On Feb. 10, 2010, Clinton wrote to aide Huma Abedin that she wanted to call California Rep. Diane Watson upon her retirement, but "right now I'm fighting w the WH operator who doesn't believe I am who I say and wants my direct office line even tho I'm not there and I just have him my home # and the State Dept # and told him I had no idea what my direct office # was since I didn't call myself and I just hung up and am calling thru Ops like a proper and properly dependent Secretary of State — no independent dialing allowed." During a Jan. 24, 2010, exchange with Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski (who told Clinton the Supreme Court "just screwed us"), Clinton said that she missed her and would try to call soon, then gave her a pep talk: "Keep going, as your and my 'home girl' Harriet Tubman would say!"
In an early 2011 email, Clinton said she could not defend to Congress the "decision that State will not use the terms 'mother and father' and instead substitute 'parent one and two.'" She said she could "live with letting people in nontraditional families choose another descriptor so long as we retained the presumption of mother and father. We need to address this today or we will be facing a huge Fox-generated media storm led by Palin et al." Clinton was forwarded a praise-filled email on March 20, 2011, from Laura Bush's chief of staff, Anita McBride, who wrote that "longtime Reaganites" told her they "feel safe with Hillary," and "I can't tell you how grateful I am as an American for Hillary's leadership and hard work. Really — it kind of makes me weepy — and it does make me proud." On Oct. 13, 2011, Clinton also shared "the weirdest exchange ever" that her husband, Bill Clinton, had in the receiving line after a speech. Clinton told friend Betsy Ebeling "a woman loudly announced that her father 'circumcised Bin Laden!' What a claim to fame."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
The launch of the world’s first weight-loss pillSpeed Read Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have been racing to release the first GLP-1 pill
-
Maduro’s capture: two hours that shook the worldTalking Point Evoking memories of the US assault on Panama in 1989, the manoeuvre is being described as the fastest regime change in history
-
Six sensational hotels to discover in 2026The Week Recommends From a rainforest lodge to a fashionable address in Manhattan – here are six hotels that travel journalists recommend for this year
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
