During a “Fox News Sunday” interview about the Office of Inspector General report on Hillary Clinton’s handling of emails, Democratic Rep. [crscore]Adam Schiff[/crscore] repeatedly brought up former Sec. of State Colin Powell, irritating Fox host Chris Wallace, who called the California congressman’s argument a red herring.
“What we do know from the OIG report is that there were a couple of attempts to hack into the system that were unsuccessful,” Schiff said. “So we don’t know if there’s any evidence of the successful breach. But I do want to get back to the point that I wanted to finish and that Senator Lankford mentioned and that is the comparison to Secretary Powell is–”
That struck a nerve with Wallace, who had called Schiff out earlier in the interview for mentioning Powell’s email use and comparing it with Clinton’s.
“I’m sorry. Hillary Clinton’s running for president. Colin Powell is not running for president,” Wallace said, interrupting the congressman. “The rules in 2004 were completely different. They’re complete different guidelines. The guidelines were repeatedly strengthened in 2005, 2006 and 2011. Hillary Clinton was operating in a different world. Can we please stay to the issue of what Hillary Clinton did or didn’t do and not talk about Colin Powell?”
WATCH:
The OIG report found that then-Sec. of State Clinton acted negligently in operating a private email server.(RELATED: State Dept. Admits That Hillary Clinton Failed To Turn Over Secretive Email)
Later, Schiff wanted to finish his point, but Wallace would only let him do so if he dropped bringing up Colin Powell.
“Not on Powell. Forgive me, I’m going to keep going. We’re done with Colin Powell,” he said.
Schiff still wouldn’t let it go: “I think it’s very telling though, Chris, that there’s no interest in anyone here but Secretary Clinton.”
“Really? Because she’s the only one running for president,” Wallace retorted.
“Yes, but does that mean that other secretaries didn’t use the same practices, that their practices are irrelevant here?” Schiff responded.
Wallace then called Schiff out, arguing they’ve proved Powell and Clinton’s handling of emails were different and that Schiff’s argument is a fallacy.
“I think first of all we’ve shown it’s different, and secondly I think it’s frankly a red herring, sir, and I’d expect more from you,” the Fox host said.
Later Wallace brought up Powell, along with a list of other secretary of states, and Schiff called him out.
“Chris, you brought up Secretary Powell this time,” the congressman noted.
“I brought it up in the fact that he spoke to them and cooperate with the investigation and she did not,” Wallace explained.
“You know what, I am not going to go for Colin Powell for president this time,” Wallace cheekily concluded.