WikiLeaks: Donna Brazile gave Clinton advance notice on town hall question

According to recently released hacked emails made public by WikiLeaks, Interim Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile sent Hillary Clinton advance notice on a question she would be asked at a town hall in March.

“From time to time I get the questions in advance,” Brazile wrote in an email to Clinton Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri. “Here’s one that worries me about HRC.”

Brazile, who was a CNN contributor at the time and DNC vice chair, then sent the question:

DEATH PENALTY 19 states and the District of Columbia have banned the death penalty. 31 states, including Ohio, still have the death penalty. According to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, since 1973, 156 people have been on death row and later set free. Since 1976, 1,414 people have been executed in the U.S. That’s 11% of Americans who were sentenced to die, but later exonerated and freed. Should Ohio and the 30 other states join the current list and abolish the death penalty?

“Yes, it is one she gets asked about. Not everyone likes her answer but can share it,” Palmieri wrote back.

The transcript from the town hall showed a similar question was posed to Clinton at the town hall:

“Secretary Clinton, since 1976, we have executed 1,414 people in this country. Since 1973, 156 who were convicted have been exonerated from the death row. This gentleman here is one of them. This is Ricky Jackson, wrongfully convicted of murder in 1975, he spent 39 years in prison. He is undecided. Ricky, what is your question?” asked Roland Martin.

Jackson then asked Clinton, “As stated, I did spend 39 years of my life in prison for a crime of murder I did not commit, and it was only through heroic efforts of the Ohio Innocence Project at the University of Cincinnati that I was ultimately exonerated and am able to stand before you today. I came perilously close to my own execution, and in light of that, what I have just shared with you and in light of the fact that there are documented cases of innocent people who have been executed in our country, I would like to know how can you still take your stance on the death penalty in light of what we know right now.”

When asked about the leaked question, a CNN spokesperson said, “To be perfectly clear we have never, ever given a town hall question to anyone beforehand.”