President Barack Obama said Saturday that he learned Hillary Clinton exclusively used a private email account for government business “through news reports” and was glad his former secretary of state asked for those emails to be made public.
“The policy of my administration is to encourage transparency, which is why my emails, the BlackBerry I carry around, all those records are available and archived,” Obama said in an interview with CBS News. “I’m glad that Hillary’s instructed that those emails about official business need to be disclosed.”
Clinton used a private email account — housed in servers at her New York home — for the four years she served as America’s top diplomat, a practice that skirted legal standards in place and has some Republicans calling for investigations.
On Wednesday night, the former secretary of state tweeted that she “asked State to release” her email, a request accepted by the department.
Obama backed Clinton’s request, telling CBS that he thinks “the fact that she is putting them forward will allow us to make sure that people have the information they need.”
While Obama commented on the issue Saturday, Clinton didn’t mention it during an 18-minute appearance on stage at a Clinton Global Initiative event at the University of Miami. Clinton took no questions from reporters at the event.
Instead, Clinton’s remarks to about 1,000 students focused on the foundation’s work, including a new report she will roll out Monday about the underrepresentation of women and girls.
“There’s so much that needs to be done,” Clinton said on the issue of equaling the playing field for women and girls. As she regularly does, Clinton said there is “a lot of unfinished business” to do on the issue.
Obama sat down with CBS after the president spoke at the 50th anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” marches in Selma, Alabama.
“If Selma taught us anything, it’s that our work is never done,” the President said while standing near the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the symbol of the Selma marches. “Fifty years from Bloody Sunday, our march is not yet finished, but we’re getting closer.”
Clinton did not go to Selma, instead opting to attend her Clinton Foundation event in Florida.
“Watched @repjohnlewis & @BarackObama in #Selma,” she tweeted. “Let’s answer their call to keep fighting for voting rights, civil rights, & human rights.”
Clinton mentioned the anniversary on stage, tying the marches and event into her work toward leveling the playing field for women and girls.
“You can see how progress is made by looking at what happened this weekend in Selma, Alabama, where our country is marking a historic anniversary of the long march towards equality and a more perfect union, and also recommitting to carry the cause forward into the 21st century,” Clinton said. “So whether it’s women’s rights or human rights, civil rights or LGBT rights, we’re counting on all of you to lead the way, and that’s what the no-ceilings initiative at the Clinton Foundation is really all about.”