In a substantial departure from her usual behavior, Hillary Clinton took five minutes to address questions from the press on Tuesday.
Clinton was meeting with small business owners at a bike shop in Cedar Falls, Iowa, when Fox News reporter Ed Henry called out the Democratic presidential candidate for not fielding questions from journalists. Clinton has refused to answer inquiries from the press for nearly a month, according to the Washington Post.
Henry interrupted Clinton during the discussion on small business Tuesday to ask whether or not she would spend some time talking to reporters.
“Maybe when I finish talking to the people here,” Clinton answered indecisively. “I might. I’ll have to ponder it. I will put it on my list for due consideration.”
Nevertheless, Hillary did dedicate five minutes to a Q&A with journalists after the event in Iowa, fielding questions about the $25 million she and former president Bill Clinton received in 16 months for paid speeches, her private email system while at the State Department, and her vote on the Iraq War.
Evidently, Clinton took the advice of former Obama advisor David Axelrod, who during a panel discussion on Meet the Press Sunday dubbed it a “terrible mistake” for Hillary to continue to ignore the press.
“I think she has to get out there,” Axelrod stressed. “She has to answer questions and she has to do it routinely so it’s not a major news event when she takes a few questions from the news media.”
