Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign collaborated closely with major members of the media, revealed the latest batch of the campaign chairman’s emails released Friday by WikiLeaks.
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Clinton has long been known to be a friend of Haim Saban, an Israeli-American billionaire that bought out Univision, but the emails show him dictating her line for the Latino audience and granting her a privileged position at the station.
In a long email chain with members of her media and Latino outreach team, staff quote Saban saying that “Univision was actually really happy about her comments” on immigration but that he “thinks HRC (Hillary Rodham Clinton) needs to be on the forefront of this and show that she's an integral part of the community, lift up and be proud of the contributions Latinos make.”
Saban “asked to call him and share our plan and get input from them,” said Lorella Praeli, head of Latino outreach. He himself says in a later email that he’s “looking forward to continued success” with the Clinton team.
An email titled “Bernie’s lies” has Saban suggesting the Clinton attack Bernie Sanders with a “Simple arrow (to) the heart and the brain... and up his butt.”
Saban also advised Clinton closely on Israel—an issue that even made Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wonder “if a Clinton Administration ‘will be a Saban Forum for four years’, due to ‘the people around her, but not her,’” read an email from Stuart Eizenstat, who often consulted her on Israel.
The friendship, though, did not stop there.
Clinton has already been criticized for being a darling of the mainstream liberal media, but the emails reveal open congratulations from both sides.
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An email from Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-chair Rob Friedman to Saban, forwarded to Podesta, reads:
“Haim , I just wanted to tell you that I thought the moderators for last nights Debate were excellent. They were thoughtful , tough and incisive. I thought it made Hilary appear direct and strong in her resolve. I felt it advanced our candidate. Thanks for Univision.”
During her 2008 campaign, collusion between moderators and Clinton even extended to the Democratic National Committee. Its press secretary at the time, Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza, wrote to members of her campaign that, “I'm sure it's already accounted for, but we'd really like the moderator to push people defending McCain to explain their positions in these groups. If you could tip the moderator to explore any comments on his temper, that would be great.”
The current campaign has expanded its connections to even more outlets, touting “a good relationship” with Fernando Espuelas of CBS’s Face the Nation, “best wishes” for the campaign from documentary filmmakers for Al Jazeera and the BBC and admiration from the New York Times, with reporter Amy Chozick—who covers Clinton—confessing that, “Peter Baker and other colleagues speak highly of you, and I am really looking forward to hopefully working with you over the next couple of years.”