Hillary Clinton quote about Huma Abedin not necessarily a contradiction

A number of media outlets are implying that the leading 2016 Democratic presidential candidate lied or contradicted herself in an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, but journalists are ignoring that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was responding to a double question.

Politico's Rachel Bade reported Thursday, "According to documents obtained by conservative group Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, Clinton was the immediate supervisor who approved the title change that came with the new post on March 23, 2012, permitting her then-deputy chief of staff to work several jobs at once."

"Do you think he had a point in raising the question of whether it was appropriate for her [Huma Abedin] to be taking a State Department salary and also be paid by an outside company, closely associated with your husband, by you?" Mitchell asked Clinton on September 4th, referring to criticism by the leading 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

"Well, you know, I was not directly involved in that, but everything that she did was approved under the rules as they existed by the State Department," Clinton responded, but it's unclear if she was referring to the job change, Teneo's hiring of Abedin, or both.

No one from the Clinton campaign appears to have argued specifically otherwise, yet, but they did pursue a different argument.

NY Times journalist Nicholas Confessore reported late Thursday night at 10:03 PM, "A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton declined to comment on the newly released document."

But, as Politico's Rachel Bade noted a few minutes earlier in a 9:58 PM update, "The Clinton Campaign argued Thursday that the document wasn't the actual approval of the SGE status but only approved the title change that came with Abedin's transition. The document states that the position was 'new' and an SGE job: 'The incumbent serves as a Senior Adviser, Expert-Special Government Employee.'"

Hours later, the New York Times, still hasn't updated the article to include the Clinton campaign's response.