If she had to do it all over again, she probably wouldn’t have done this press conference.
Hillary Clinton took questions from reporters about an email controversy for the first time Tuesday, explaining her use of personal utilities as a matter of “convenience” and straining to reassure a skeptical press corps that her practices were secure.
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“Looking back, it would’ve been better if I’d simply used a second email account and carried a second phone, but at the time, this didn’t seem like an issue,” Clinton said at the United Nations, where she appeared earlier to deliver remarks at a women’s empowerment event.
It’s certainly an issue now. During the 20-minute news conference, Clinton fielded questions about what emails she kept and turned over to the State Department, the sensitivity of information transmitted from her account, the regulations governing her email use, and the security of her data. She attempted to squash any concerns about the vulnerability of her communications, vowing that she never sent classified material and that she never experienced any security breaches. But her answers raised more questions.
For instance, she said “the system we used was set up for President Clinton’s office.” President Clinton, however, is reported not to have emailed since his days in the White House.
The former Secretary of State also said her decision to use a private email account was to avoid the burden of carrying around multiple devices. A video clip distributed by the conservative group America Rising, however, caught Clinton saying just last week that she has both an iPhone and a BlackBerry.
“[M]any people do that,” Clinton said Tuesday of officials who handle multiple devices.
The State Department announced Tuesday that it will post Clinton’s emails to the web after completing a review expected to take months, per Reuters. Clinton praised the news and said she’s confident that her efforts to be transparent are beyond doubt.
“I feel … that I went above and beyond what I was requested to do. And again, those [emails] will be out in the public domain, and people will be able to judge for themselves.”