On Tuesday afternoon, Hillary Clinton held a press conference aimed at explaining her exclusive use of a personal email account during her tenure as Secretary of State. Watch the full video of her press conference from the United Nations in New York embedded below.
Report from CBS Washington:
Hillary Clinton is finally breaking her silence about the email controversy surrounding her.
Following a speech at the United Nations Tuesday afternoon, Clinton said she “opted for convenience” for only using her private email address while at the State Department because she wanted to use one device for both her personal and work emails.
“I thought it would be easier to carry one device for my work,” Clinton said during a news conference.
The former secretary of state said it “would’ve been better” to use an official government email.
“Looking back, it would have probably been smarter to use two devices, but I have absolute confidence that everything that could be in any way connected to work is now in the hands of the State Department,” Clinton said.
Clinton added that she deleted emails from her private account pertaining to her daughter Chelsea’s wedding, her mother’s funeral arrangements, and her yoga routine.
“No one wants their personal emails made public and I think most people understand that and respect that privacy,” Clinton said.
Clinton also said that there were no security breaches on her private email server.
So there it is. She’s got the element of time in her favor, especially since it is so early in the 2016 process that most voters aren’t paying attention anyway. If her statements hold up over time, as I presume she believes they will, then she’ll likely weather this storm though it may have helped awaken some of her possible primary challengers.
There are, however, a few notable holes in her story. She mentioned an aversion to using two devices. Interestingly enough, she has already admitted she used two devices as Secretary of State. Second, she stated that she has personal emails between her and Bill she’d prefer not to release. That’s interesting, since Bill says he has never used email and still doesn’t.
Her statements today are based purely on “trust” between Hillary Clinton and the American people. You either believe she is hiding something, or you don’t. There is no way to verify her claims since, as she also mentioned, her email server will still remain private with the Clintons being the only arbiters of access to information contained on the machine. Well, perhaps not the only arbiters, as some reports indicate it may have been hacked back in 2013.
