In an interview with ABC News David Muir Tuesday, Hillary Clinton said that using a personal email account while Secretary of State was a “mistake” and that she is “sorry” for it.
“I do think I could have and should have done a better job answering questions earlier. I really didn’t perhaps appreciate the need to do that,” the democratic presidential candidate told Muir in an exclusive interview in New York City. “What I had done was allowed, it was above board. But in retrospect, as I look back at it now, even though it was allowed, I should have used two accounts. One for personal, one for work-related emails. That was a mistake. I’m sorry about that. I take responsibility.”
In an e-mail to her supporters, Mrs. Clinton writes:
I wanted you to hear this directly from me:
Yes, I should have used two email addresses, one for personal matters and one for my work at the State Department. Not doing so was a mistake. I’m sorry about it, and I take full responsibility.
It’s important for you to know a few key facts. My use of a personal email account was aboveboard and allowed under the State Department’s rules. Everyone I communicated with in government was aware of it. And nothing I ever sent or received was marked classified at the time.
As this process proceeds, I want to be as transparent as possible. That’s why I’ve provided all of my work emails to the government to be released to the public, and why I’ll be testifying in public in front of the Benghazi Committee later next month.
I know this is a complex story. I could have — and should have — done a better job answering questions earlier. I’m grateful for your support, and I’m not taking anything for granted.
Mrs. Clinton concludes that she understands that her supporters may have more questions and promises to work to keep answering them.
Part of that promise is letting people read her e-mails, Clinton says, and she provides a link to the place to go to do just that.
Over there — after listing “the four things you need to know about Hillary Clinton’s email use during her time at the State Department” — Clinton asks, “Still want to know more? Check out the emails for yourself.”
At the State Department site, readers find a Virtual Reading Room with 7945 Documents Search Results.
Readers can refine the search.
For example, if one selects ‘Benghazi,’ the system returns 296 results.
Clicking on “Benghazi was Obama‘s 3AM Call,” takes the reader to a lengthy e-mail that starts as follows:
Why won’t the Libya story go away? Why can’t the memory of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and his staff be consigned to the same sad-and-sealed file of Americans killed abroad in dangerous line of duty? How has an episode that seemed at first to have been mishandled by the Romney camp become an emblem of a feckless and deluded foreign policy?
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The story-switching and stonewalling haven’t helped. But let’s start a little earlier.
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The hour is 5 p.m., Sept. 11, Washington time, and the scene is an Oval Office meeting among President °barna, the secretary of defense, the national security adviser and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi has been under assault for roughly 90 minutes. Some 30 U.S. citizens are at mortal risk. The whereabouts of Ambassador Stevens are unknown.
Continue to read here.
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