Watch Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook crash and burn on Morning Joe

Robby Mook has a tough interview on Morning Joe

(Image credit: MSNBC/YouTube)

last updated 22 September 2016

The charges of question-dodging started right away during Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook's interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe Wednesday morning. The first question Mook declined to answer was when Joe Scarborough asked about the breakup of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and everybody laughed, but that set the template for the entire nine-minute interview. The first few questions were fine — about Clinton's pneumonia and the Republicans voting for her instead of Donald Trump — but Mook hit choppy waters about three minutes in, when Willie Geist asks about Syria.

Mook demurred when Geist asked if Clinton was disappointed when President Obama did not enforce his "red line" against Assad — "Well, you're here to speak for her, Robby," Geist said — and again when Mike Barnicle asked how Clinton thinks the U.S. should respond to the bombing of an aid convoy near Aleppo. "We love you, buddy, but what are you here for if you can't answer basic questions?" Scarborough asked. "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?" After a brief respite on trade deals, Geist turned the interview back to Syria. Mook said go read Clinton's plan on her website, and Katy Tur jumped in: "But if Donald Trump doesn't have a plan, as you're saying he doesn't — and I've been on the campaign trail with him — and you can't lay out your plan, how can you convince voters that Hillary Clinton is the better choice, Robby?" Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.