Hillary Clinton Breaks Days Of Silence On Email Controversy: ‘I Opted For Convenience’

Last week, news broke that Hillary Clinton used a personal email account to conduct official government business while in office as Secretary of State. Though Clinton has appeared and spoken in public since the revelation, today was the first time she addressed the scandal during a press conference at the United Nations in New York. The only public comment from Clinton before today was a tweet she sent out on March 4.

I want the public to see my email. I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 5, 2015

Clinton claims she used her personal email address as a matter of “convenience” because she wanted to carry one device instead of two. Though insisting she hasn’t done anything illegal, Clinton did not address whether the State Department had cleared the use of her personal account. Clinton says the private server used to host her email domain “proved to be effective and secure” and confirmed the server was based out of her home in Chappaqua, New York. Clinton said there were “no security breaches” and classified information was never sent via email.

“I opted for convenience to use my personal email account which was allowed by the State Department because I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two. Looking back it would have been better if I had simply used a second email account and carried a second phone but at the time, this didn’t seem like an issue.”

Clinton went on to say that most of her emails are already on the State Department’s system because those emails were addressed to government employees at their government email accounts. Clinton also addressed her detractors who believe she was able to select which emails to turn in. Clinton assured her team combed through her account thoroughly, turning in all work-related emails.

Clinton said, “I trust the American people to make their decisions about political and public matters and I feel like I’ve taken unprecedented steps for these emails to be in the public domain. I went above and beyond what I was requested to do.”

Personal emails concerning matters such as daughter Chelsea’s wedding, her mother’s funeral arrangements, and her yoga routine were left out. Clinton revealed she “chose not to keep” her private personal emails and deleted them.

“… the State Department asked former secretaries of state for our assistance in providing copies of work-related emails from our personal accounts. I responded right away and provided all my emails that could possibly be work-related… At the end, I chose not to keep my private personal emails… No one wants their personal emails made public, and I think most people understand that and respect that privacy.”

No matter what Hillary Clinton said today, her critics remain skeptical that there isn’t a way to verify Hillary’s team turned over all of the government-related emails and want to know if there were any politically damaging emails that Clinton’s team didn’t turn in to the State Department. The question now is if Clinton’s private server will be turned over for independent review.

Do you think Hillary Clinton’s silence during the scandal will damage her run for President?

[Photo by Yana Paskova/Getty Images]