Meet the Press Guest Offers Wild Defense of Shocking Hur Tape: ‘Good for Democrats!’

Democratic adviser Ashley Etienne told host and moderator Kristen Welker on Sunday that the release of shocking audio from President Joe Biden speaking with special counsel Robert Hur is actually “good” for both the former president and for the party.

Etienne joined the political panel on the latest edition of Meet the Press, along with NBC chief Washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell, co-anchor of PBS NewsHour Amna Nawaz, editor and CEO of The Dispatch Stephen Hayes, and discussed the ongoing scandal over Biden’s mental state during his presidency and the newly-released audio, published by Axios, from the former president’s 2023 sit-down with Hur.

Etienne, former communications director to then-Vice President Kamala Harris and a top staffer for former Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama, first said what many Democratic advisers, strategists, and spokespersons have said, which is to argue the “real” story is about why President Donald Trump and the Republicans have put the audio out there.

But she then said that the release is actually “good” for Biden and the Democrats, because they can “dispense” with it.

“This is good for Joe Biden. It’s good for the Democratic Party,” Etienne said. “Because we can dispense with this now and not closer to the midterm election.”

Not everyone on her side of the aisle has expressed the same equanimity about the situation.

Etienne said it’s a chance to “move past” the situation and keep looking “forward,” which is also something many of the officials now under scrutiny have been saying in their own defense, with predictably skeptical reception.

ETIENNE: This is how I see it. The real question is: Why release this tape now? And it’s clear to me that President Trump released the tape because he’s trying to distract from his disastrous – unprecedented – disastrous first 100 days. I mean, we’ve all been talking about that at the table today.

So to me that’s what’s at play. Imagine a situation where you’re so desperate, so under water on every issue that you play your best card in the first six months of an administration. So the way I see this is: This is good for Joe Biden. It’s good for the Democratic Party, because we can dispense with this now and not closer to the midterm election –

WELKER: You think it’s good for Joe Biden?

ETIENNE: Meaning …

WELKER: – it does raise new questions about his decision not to get out sooner as you just heard Chris Murphy say.

ETIENNE: Well, I do believe that I think the problem with the Democratic Party right now is that we’ve not produced an autopsy, we’ve not produced an assessment of what actually happened in the election and to address this issue head on. If we were to, we can reconcile, coalesce, speak with one voice, and move past it.

Watch the clip above via NBC News.