Hillary Clinton twice on Friday declined to outright apologize for using a private email server when she was secretary of state — but she did apologize for any confusion it might have caused.
“I am sorry that this has been confusing to people and raised questions,” Clinton said in an interview on MSNBC.
In a lengthy interview, Andrea Mitchell twice asked the Democratic presidential front-runner “Are you sorry?”
“I certainly wish that I had made a different choice and I know why the American people have questions about it and I want to make sure that I answer those questions,” Clinton said, both times not apologizing.
Later in the interview, she did say she was sorry about the confusion.
Clinton’s use of private email has become a major talking point in the campaign, with Republicans criticizing her as untrustworthy and dishonest and the issue has hurt her in polls. The matter is being investigated by congressional committees and the Justice Department, which is probing whether classified information was transmitted over the private server.
Clinton said she realizes now the decision to have a personal — instead of official — email at the State Department was not the right one, but she defended herself as trustworthy.
“My personal email use was fully above board,” Clinton said.
She said she realizes she should have two accounts, but said she’s released all the work-related emails and is looking forward to testifying in public before Congress this fall.
She also said reviews have confirmed “over and over” that she “did not send or receive any material marked classified.” Emails have retroactively been determined to have classified information in them, but it’s not clear if those emails were known to be classified at the time.
Clinton also responded to recent polling that showed Americans associate the terms untrustworthy and liar with her name.
“Well it certainly doesn’t make me feel good, but I am very confident that by the time this campaign has run its course, people will know that what I’ve been saying is accurate,” she said.