Hillary Clinton sat down with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Friday in an effort to signal greater press access and answer the unending questions surrounding use of her private server and email account while serving as secretary of state. Alex Seitz-Wald
reports:
Hillary Clinton said she’s “sorry” there’s been so much controversy over her private email server, but declined to apologize for the decision to use it. [...]
“At the end of the day, I am sorry that this has been confusing to people and has raised a lot of questions, but there are answers to all these questions,” Clinton said of her email server after being pressed by Mitchell on whether she should apologize for the controversy that has dogged her campaign from the outset. “And I take responsibility and it wasn’t the best choice.”
And here's Clinton on the rise in the number of people who consider her untrustworthy:
“Certainly, it doesn’t make me feel good,” Clinton said when asked by Mitchell about those who find her dishonest. “But I am very confident that by the time this campaign has run it’s course, people will know that what I have been saying is accurate.”
After laughing off questions about her server for months, Clinton has begun to strike a more contrite tone.
She explained that she had used a personal email account as senator from New York and didn’t spend much time considering alternatives when she became secretary of state in 2009. “I did all my business on my personal email [in the Senate],” Clinton said. “I was not thinking a lot when I got in [to the State Department]. There was so much work to be done. We had so many problems around the world. I didn’t really stop and think what kind of email system will there be.”
“This was fully above board, people knew I was using a personal email, I did it for convenience. I sent emails that I thought were work related to people’s dot gov accounts,” she added.
None of this is likely to satisfy her critics or stop the press inquires, the question is whether it can help curb the suggestion to voters that she's not to be trusted.
Several polls have shown that Democratic voters still have a favorable view of Clinton overall. A Suffolk University poll of Iowa Democrats found 70 percent said they were not bothered by her private email use, yet 52 percent said they thought it would hurt her if she became the nominee. However, rival Bernie Sanders has eaten into Clinton's support in Iowa and has surpassed her by seven points in New Hampshire.