Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the 30th Anniversary National Conference of Emily’s List in Washington, D.C. on March 3, 2015. (Photo: Brooks Kraft/Corbis)
Hillary Clinton’s camp issued what they called clarification late Sunday addressing the steps they claim were taken to review thousands of personal emails before they were deleted. It what is a stunning change in their story, the Clinton team is now claiming they individually read “every email” before deleting those they deemed themselves to be private.
Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill issued a written statement to Fox News in response to revelations the former secretary of state used a private email account and server while serving up President Obama. Her office claimed last week that while more than 30,000 “work-related” emails were turned over to the State Department, nearly 32,000 were deemed “private” and deleted.
Merrill on Sunday clarified an earlier fact sheet handed out to media, which first claimed every email was not read.
“We simply took for granted that reading every single email came across as the most important, fundamental and exhaustive step that was performed. The fact sheet should have been clearer in stating that every email was read,” Merrill said.
Clinton tried to put EmailGate behind her and her expected 2016 campaign, but a quick press conference and excuses of convenience did not satisfy the critics or media. This latest assurance that “every email” was read before being either deleted or turned over to the State Department is not likely to silence those voices, either.
“I have zero interest in looking at her personal emails,” Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi said on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.
“But who gets to decide what’s personal and what’s public? And if it’s a mixed-use email, and lots of the emails we get in life are both personal and work, I just can’t trust her lawyers to make the determination that the public’s getting everything they’re entitled to.”
