Philippe Reines has been described in the media as Hillary’s “fixer” He has been one of her advisers and spokesmen since at least 2003. He worked on her campaigns for president and was her adviser in the State Department. He even stood-in as Donald Trump during Hillary’s 2016 debate prep. Yesterday Reines appeared on a National Review podcast where he was asked whether he had reassessed Bill Clinton in light of the #MeToo movement. From Fox News:

Some prominent Democrats have distanced themselves from the former president. Reines countered that Clinton was impeached and didn’t exactly “get off scot-free” — before Weinstein reminded him that Broaddrick’s claims have not been investigated.

“Juanita Broaddrick is full of s—,” Reines said.

Weinstein shot back, “So you don’t think she’s telling the truth about that?”

“I do not think she’s telling the truth. More importantly, Ken Starr did not think that she was telling the truth,” Reines said. “For me, I assume Ken Starr pulled no punches.”…

Independent Counsel Starr interviewed Broaddrick in 1999 as part of his investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct brought by Paula Jones. At first, Broaddrick signed a sworn affidavit denying a rape ever occurred. But when Starr approached her, he offered her immunity. She told BuzzFeed News in 2016 that was when she decided it “was time to tell the truth.”

You wouldn’t expect a guy like Reines to ever admit the possibility that his political benefactors might be creeps. Still, he could have left it at “I do not think she’s telling the truth.” To go as far as saying Broaddrick is “full of s**t” is low even for him.

Reines erupted last November when Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand suggested that Bill Clinton should have resigned over the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Ken Starr spent $70 million on a consensual blowjob. Senate voted to keep POTUS WJC. But not enough for you @SenGillibrand? Over 20 yrs you took the Clintons’ endorsements, money, and seat. Hypocrite.

Interesting strategy for 2020 primaries. Best of luck.https://t.co/KIsnfY4WLT

— Philippe Reines (@PhilippeReines) November 17, 2017

Of course, he definitely has a point about Gillibrand being a grade-A hypocrite. She was happy to cozy up to the Clinton to help get herself elected. Now that the Clintons have no more power to give, she’s happy to throw them under the bus. So, another way to read this is that Reines is the loyal soldier who won’t throw his bosses under a bus no matter what. But again, that doesn’t mean he has to go as far as calling Broaddrick a liar. Gillibrand may be a hypocrite but at least she seems to be vaguely aware of shame as a concept. You can’t say the same for Philippe Reines.

Reines minimized the Lewinsky affair as a “consensual blowjob” (he said something similar in the National Review podcast) but he can’t do that with Broaddrick. So instead of minimizing he just denies her account and calls her a liar. I’m sure all the media people who were outraged that Republicans question Christine Blasey Ford’s credibility (when no one corroborated her story) are going to be just as outraged about this.

Update: Moments after this went up, Fox News updated its story with a response from Broaddrick:

Asked for comment, Broaddrick fired back in a statement to Fox News: “Mr. Reines is nothing more than a bottom dwelling sewer slug. His comments are laughable and irrelevant. It’s not my fault that Mr. Reines keeps company with rapists, abusers and victim shamers. If he wants someone to blame, it should definitely be Bill Clinton for attacking and raping me. As for the Starr investigation, what Mr. Reines said is false. Period. He is only trying to salvage Bill and Hillary’s sinking relevance and people aren’t buying it.”

Update: I’d forgotten about this way-over-the-top taunt of Donald Trump Jr. after he announced he was getting divorced.  Reines really is a sewer slug.

This man was the Press Secretary and a Senior Advisor to Hillary Clinton. @PhilippeReines was also the spokesman for @ChelseaClinton. I wonder how they feel about this tweet from Philippe? pic.twitter.com/NFWcfHe0ns

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) May 9, 2018