On Tuesday, Hillary Rodham Clinton admitted it may have been a mistake to exclusively use a private email server during her time as of Secretary of State, but explained that her decision not use government email that is subject to oversight was one of “convenience.”
Attempting to suppress the growing scandal around her use of private email, Clinton addressed a crowd of reports at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in her first full press conference in over two years.
Clinton explained her choice not to use government email, which would have automatically preserved all of her correspondence, was motivated by her desire to only have one cellphone and one email account.
While she admitted she deleted as many as 30,000 emails, she claimed they were all personal and did not pertain to any official business.
Clinton also asserted that she followed administrative procedures, despite White House instructions encouraging officials to use a government email for official business.
Although Clinton’s office has admitted that her use of a private email account was known by more than 100 of her colleagues, President Obama has claimed that he had no prior knowledge that Clinton chose not to use a government email.
During her four years as Secretary of State, Clinton alleges she sent over 60,000 emails from her private account, but said none of them contained classified information. Clinton’s office has also stated that she only corresponded with one foreign government official who was from the United Kingdom.
However, Clinton confessed that “looking back, it would have been better for me to use two separate phones and two email accounts.”
Republicans and several Democrats have repeatedly blasted Clinton for using a private email server based in her New York home, and have questioned her honesty and need for secrecy.
Clinton has reportedly turned over thousands of the remaining emails to the State Department, but has refused to allow an independent auditor to ensure all emails that pertain to official government business were preserved.
The State Department has begun reviewing some 55,000 pages of Clinton’s emails, and has stated that it will publicly release the emails in the next few months.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="10015 http://www.themainewire.com/?p=10015">2 Comments
Candidate Obama proclaimed he would have the most transparent administration in history. We now know what a lie that was.
At least Hillary is being honest. If the Clintons are elected president, she is telling us that they won’t give two s**ts what America thinks about transparency and honesty.
If you put politics aside, Mrs. Clinton jeopardized out international safety, that is a tremendous concern.