A former top aide to Hillary Clinton admitted in March 2015 that the campaign could not answer difficult questions about Clinton’s private email use in the days after the New York Times exposed it for the first time.

Philippe Reines, a former State Department aide to Clinton who recently played the role of Donald Trump during her debate preparations, admitted to other high-level campaign staffers on March 7 of last year that allies’ suggestions for mitigating the controversy did not seem effective.