November
10th, 2007 3:51 PM Eastern
Another
Question Planted by Team Hillary?
by
Aaron Bruns
From
Major Garrett, a Fox News Exclusive:
In
a telephone interview with Fox, Geoffrey Mitchell, 32, says he was
approached by an operative for the Clinton campaign to ask a planted
question about standing up to President Bush on Iraq war funding. The
encounter happened before an event on a farm outside Fort Madison,
Iowa. The Clinton event was hosted by Iowa State Sen. Gene Fraise.
Mitchell
tells Fox that Clinton campaign worker Chris Hayler approached him and
asked him to ask Sen. Clinton a question about how she was standing up
to President Bush on the question of funding the Iraq war and a troop
withdrawal timeline.
Mitchell
told Fox the Clinton campaign wanted to contrast Clinton to Sen Barack
Obama, who had recently said the president would probably prevail in
the Iraq funding battle with Congress.
Mitchell
said he refused to ask the question.
“I
told Chris I had other issues I wanted to raise with Sen. CLinton,”
Mitchell said. Asked what those were, Mitchell said: “I wanted to
ask her why she voted for the Iraq war and why she didn’t consider
that a mistake.”
Mitchell
told Fox that Hayler, the Clinton campaign worker, was unhappy and
moved on to others. “I know he tried to have others ask that
question,” Mitchell said.
Ultimately,
Mitchell said Clinton took no questions at the event.
MItchell
told Fox he is an Obama supporter but cannot participate in the Iowa
caucus.
Mitchell
is a minister in Hamilton and said he was reluctant to come forward
because of the scrutiny he and his congregation might receive. “But
I thought this was important to get out and I want people to know what
happened.”
UPDATE:
Hillary Clinton’s Iowa campaign confirmed to Fox that one of its
staff discussed questions with Geoffrey Mitchell before the
senator’s April 2 event near Fort Madison, but denied attempting to
plant a pro-Clinton question.
Mo
Elliethee, spokesman for Clinton, told Fox that Clinton staffer Chris
Hayler talked with Mitchell before the event because the two knew each
other from previous Democratic activities.
Mitchell
told Fox he knew Hayler because Hayler had once been with Indian Sen.
Evan Bayh’s campaign. “They had a previous relationship and were
talking before the event and the topic of the senator’s position on
Iraq came up, and Geoffrey said he had some questions,” Elliethee
said. “Chris suggested Geoffrey ask a question.”
Asked
if the Clinton campaign denied Mitchell’s unequivocal assertion that
Hayler tried to plant a quesiton about Clinton trying to stand up to
Bush on IRaq war funding, Elliethee declined.
“I’m
not going to comment on what he said,” said Elleithee, referring to
Mitchell. “They had a previous relationship, the subject came up and
there’s nothing more to it than that. It’s not newsworthy. It’s
innocent. It’s not yesterday.”
That
was a reference to Clinton’s campaign admitting, first to Fox, that
it planted a question on global warming at a Newton, IA event on
Tuesday.
UPDATE
#2: Geoffrey Mitchell just called Major to state he had absolutely no
previous relationship with Clinton staffer Chris Hayler. Mo Elliethee,
spokesman for Clinton’s campaign in Iowa, told Fox that Hayler and
Mitchell “had a previous relationship,” and that a discussion
about Clinton arose out of a normal conversation between two people
who knew each other well.
“I
had no previous relationship with him,” said Mitchell. “I knew his
name and by name only as someone who worked for Sen. Evan Bayh. But we
didn’t know each other and I had never met him before this event.”
