Hillary Clinton's damage control operation gets more troops

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is getting more firepower to help with its damage control.

Correct The Record, an outside rapid response and research group dedicated to defending the records of Clinton and the other Democratic presidential candidates is reorganizing so it can coordinate with Clinton’s campaign and devote all of its resources to her.


Founded by Clinton ally David Brock in late 2013, Correct the Record is splitting off from its parent organization, the opposition research group American Bridge 21st Century, and registering with the Federal Election Commission as a stand-alone super PAC, the group announced Tuesday.

Because the group will no longer be involved in paid media, it will be able to coordinate with the campaign and party committees. The change will go into effect by the end of the month.

Brad Woodhouse, who is taking a leave as president of American Bridge to become president of Correct The Record, said the time was right to split off the research group, now that Democrats are announcing their candidacies. He said the entity would be “aggressively responding to false attacks and misstatements of the Secretary’s exemplary record.”

A Clinton campaign spokeswoman declined to comment.

The Republican National Committee was quick to criticize the move. “Hillary Clinton is taking her hypocrisy on money in politics to interesting new heights, directly linking her campaign to a super PAC whose sole purpose is to play defense,” the RNC said.

The change, first reported Tuesday by the New York Times, is good news for the Clinton campaign, which now can assert more control over the surrogates speaking on behalf of Clinton.

Until now, Brock and his team have been defending Clinton’s record against attacks, most recently from the book “Clinton Cash” by Peter Schweizer. But it could not receive talking points from the campaign and created its own.

American Bridge will remain a separate independent expenditure group that purchases paid media, and is prohibited from coordinating with the campaign. Brock will remained involved with both American Bridge and Correct The Record, but there will be a firewall, sources said.

Brock is also a former board member of Priorities USA, an outside super PAC raising money for Clinton. Last February he resigned from the board, but has been expected to rejoin at some point.

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