Hillary Clinton email shows Christiane Amanpour was 'appalled' at CNN and Anderson Cooper 'fiasco'

CNN host Christiane Amanpour didn't approve of the cable news network and colleague Anderson Cooper's reporting from a journal belonging to a murdered ambassador.

That's according to an email from Amanpour's husband, James P. Rubin, to Hillary Clinton.

Rubin is a journalist and former US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs in the Bill Clinton administration from 1997 to 2000.

In an email from the State Department's release of information from Hillary Clinton's private server in March, Rubin pitches a meeting between Clinton and notable writers and journalists in New York City in order to clarify the "difficulties and complexities" of Clinton's service as Secretary of State as a primer for when they decide to describe her service in the position. 

While that is the main purpose of the email, a short sidenote reflects Amanpour's feelings and includes a backhanded compliment for CNN.

Rubin wrote: "p.s. my wife was appalled at the Anderson Cooper diary fiasco; unfortunately, cnn is still the best of a declining industry..."

Rubin is referring to the 2012 controversy CNN found itself in after using the contents of a journal it found belonging to a slain US ambassador and failing to disclose that the journal was its source for subsequent reporting.

The ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, was killed at the US consulate after an attack by Libyan rebels. A CNN reporter found his journal among the ruins. It was revealed later that CNN made notes about items from the journal before handing it over to Libyan officials and contacting Stevens' family. Later, Cooper would use the information from the journal in a report on his CNN show, "Anderson Cooper 360," but he didn't reveal that the information originated from Stevens' journal.

When CNN's use of the journal came to light two days after Cooper's report, the State Department said CNN's actions were "disgusting" and a breach of the news outlet's promise to Stevens' family that it wouldn't use the journal in its reporting.

CNN countered that, arguing that reporting the important information from the journal was its responsibility as a news organization, which became the subject of heated debates in the days to come.

As a result of Rubin's email, we now know at least one major CNN reporter, Amanpour, was strongly against CNN and Cooper's use of the journal.

CNN and Amanpour have not responded to Business Insider's request for comment. Attempts to contact Rubin went unanswered.

Read the full email exchange between Rubin and Clinton below: