Axelrod: Hillary's 'Given Oxygen To The Story By Not Just Coming Out' And Explaining Emails

 Et Tu David?  Interviewed by Thomas Roberts on Monday, Democratic strategist David Axelrod added his name to those critical of Hillary Clinton's silence about the email scandal which has overtaken her campaign for almost a week. Axelrod believes Clinton's silence has made things worse. "But there is no doubt that she's given oxygen to the story by not just coming out and forth rightly saying this is why we did it and this is how the e-mails were secured and answering the questions"

Below is the transcript and video:

Yeah. Well first of all, let me say, Thomas, the road to the presidency and the campaigns are pock-marked with defining events that turn out to be defining events so no one can judge at this moment what the long-term impact of this will be. But there is no doubt that she's given oxygen to the story by not just coming out and forth rightly saying this is why we did it and this is how the e-mails were secured and answering the questions. So as to kind of get past this. And there is a -- a tendency, and you heard James kind of -- he represents a philosophy here, having been through a lot of this, and you kind of Bogart your way through it. You play rope-a-dope and let your opponent punch themselves out and then it passes. But that makes people nervous because those who support her want her to be a strong nominee but this is a -- an ongoing concern.