posted on Jul, 5 2016 @ 06:11 PM
In going through the e-mails, there were over 60,000 in total, sent and received. About half were work-related and went to the State Department and
about half were personal that were not in any way related to my work. I had no reason to save them, but that was my decision because the federal
guidelines are clear and the State Department request was clear.
For any government employee, it is that government employee’s responsibility to determine what’s personal and what’s work-related. I am very
confident of the process that we conducted and the e-mails that were produced.
And I feel like once the American public begins to see the e- mails, they will have an unprecedented insight into a high government official’s daily
communications, which I think will be quite interesting.
With respect to the foundation, I am very proud of the work the foundation does. I’m very proud of the hundreds of thousands of people who support
the work of the foundation and the results that have been achieved for people here at home and around the world.
And I think that we are very clear about where we stand, certainly where I stand, on all of these issues. There can’t be any mistake about my
passion concerning women’s rights here at home and around the world.
So I think that people who want to support the foundation know full well what it is we stand for and what we’re working on.
CLINTON: Hi, right here.
QUESTION: Secretary Clinton?
CLINTON: She’s sort of squashed, so we’ve got to…
QUESTION: Hi, Secretary.
CLINTON: Hi.
QUESTION: I was wondering if you think that you made a mistake either in exclusively using your private e-mail or in response to the controversy
around it. And, if so, what have you learned from that?
CLINTON: Well, I have to tell you that, as I said in my remarks, looking back, it would have been probably, you know, smarter to have used two
devices. But I have absolute confidence that everything that could be in any way connected to work is now in the possession of the State
Department.
And I have to add, even if I had had two devices, which is obviously permitted — many people do that — you would still have to put the
responsibility where it belongs, which is on the official. So I did it for convenience and I now, looking back, think that it might have been smarter
to have those two devices from the very beginning.
QUESTION: Secretary Clinton?
CLINTON: Yes? QUESTION: Did you or any of your aides delete any government- related e-mails from your personal account? And what lengths are you
willing to go to to prove that you didn’t?
Some people, including supporters of yours, have suggested having an independent arbiter look at your server, for instance.
CLINTON: We did not. In fact, my direction to conduct the thorough investigation was to err on the side of providing anything that could be possibly
viewed as work related.
That doesn’t mean they will be by the State Department once the State Department goes through them, but out of an abundance of caution and care, you
know, we wanted to send that message unequivocally.
That is the responsibility of the individual and I have fulfilled that responsibility, and I have no doubt that we have done exactly what we should
have done. When the search was conducted, we were asking that any email be identified and preserved that could potentially be federal records, and
that’s exactly what we did.
And we went, as I said, beyond that. And the process produced over 30,000 you know, work emails, and I think that we have more than met the requests
from the State Department. The server contains personal communications from my husband and me, and I believe I have met all of my responsibilities and
the server will remain private and I think that the State Department will be able, over time, to release all of the records that were provided.
QUESTION: Madam Secretary, can you…
CLINTON: Right there.
QUESTION: Madam Secretary, two quick follow ups. You mentioned the server. That’s one of the distinctions here.
This wasn’t Gmail or Yahoo or something. This was a server that you owned. Is that appropriate? Is it — was there any precedent for it? Did you
clear it with any State Department security officials? And do they have — did they have full access to it when you were secretary?
And then separately, will any of this have any bearing or effect on your timing or decision about whether or not you run for president? Thank you.
CLINTON: Well, the system we used was set up for President Clinton’s office. And it had numerous safeguards. It was on property guarded by the
Secret Service. And there were no security breaches.
So, I think that the — the use of that server, which started with my husband, certainly proved to be effective and secure. Now, with respect to any
sort of future — future issues, look, I trust the American people to make their decisions about political and public matters. And I feel that I’ve
taken unprecedented steps to provide these work-related emails. They’re going to be in the public domain. And I think that Americans will find that
you know, interesting, and I look forward to having a discussion about that.
QUESTION: Madam Secretary?
CLINTON: Hi.
QUESTION: How could the public be assured that when you deleted emails that were personal in nature, that you didn’t also delete emails that were
professional, but possibly unflattering?
And what do you think about this Republican idea of having an independent third party come in an examine your emails?
CLINTON: Well first of all, you have to ask that question to every single federal employee, because the way the system works, the federal employee,
the individual, whether they have one device, two devices, three devices, how many addresses, they make the decision.
So, even if you have a work-related device with a work-related .gov account, you choose what goes on that. That is the way our system works. And so we
trust and count on the judgment of thousands, maybe millions of people to make those decisions.
And I feel that I did that and even more, that I went above and beyond what I was requested to do. And again, those will be out in the public domain,
and people will be able to judge for themselves.
QUESTION: Okay, Madam.
Madam Secretary?
Madam Secretary, excuse me.
Madam Secretary, State Department rules at the time you were secretary were perfectly clear that if a State Department employee was going to be using
private email, that employee needed to turn those emails over to the State Department to be preserved on government computers.
Why did you not do that? Why did you not go along with State Department rules until nearly two years after you left office?
QUESTION: And also, the president of the United States said that he was unaware that you had this unusual email arrangement. The White House
counsel’s office says that you never approved this arrangement through them.
Why did you not do that? Why did you — why have you apparently caught the White House by surprise?
And then just one last political question, if I — I might. Does all of this make — affect your decision in any way on whether or not to run for
president?
CLINTON: Well, let me try to unpack your multiple questions.
First, the laws and regulations in effect when I was secretary of state allowed me to use my email for work. That is undisputed.