Hillary Clinton revealed Tuesday that she deleted more than 30,000 “personal” emails from her tenure as secretary of state — and won’t allow access to the private computer server she used to send them.
“The server will remain private,” she declared — claiming the off-limits emails were about “yoga routines, family vacations” and other matters that had nothing to do with government.
Clinton broke her silence on the proliferating email controversy at the United Nations on Tuesday, after previously weighing in only with a late-night tweet.
Facing a throng of reporters in an event dubbed an unofficial kickoff for her presidential campaign, Clinton said she regretted her decision to use private emails for official business, which she described as all about personal “convenience” and not about secrecy control, as critics charge.
“Looking back, it would’ve been better for me to use two separate phones and two email accounts. I thought using one device would be simpler and obviously it hasn’t worked out that way,” she acknowledged.
But in a revelation likely to keep the scandal rolling, Clinton said she has deleted over 30,000 emails she deemed to have been “personal.”
“At the end, I chose not to keep my private personal emails — emails about planning Chelsea’s wedding or my mother’s funeral arrangements, condolence notes to friends as well as yoga routines, family vacations — the other things you typically find in inboxes.”
Clinton said “about half” the 60,000 emails she wrote in her State Department days were personal.
“They had nothing to do with work . . . I didn’t see any reason to keep them,” she added.
One GOP critic was quick to point out that there’s no way to verify that.
“No one but Hillary Clinton knows if she handed over every relevant email,” said Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus.
It turns out Clinton now uses two phones. Last month, she told a tech conference in California: “I have, you know, an iPad, a mini iPad, an iPhone and BlackBerry.”
Clinton said the public would have an “unprecedented insight” into her daily communications once the State Department releases the emails she sent over.
“I want it all out there,” said Clinton, referring only to the emails she considered work-related.
“No one wants their personal emails made public,” she continued. “And I think most people understand that and respect that privacy.”
But later she said her personal home computer server, which she said was initially set up for husband Bill Clinton’s post-presidential office, “contains personal communications from my husband and me.”
That’s why she said the server will “remain private” — raising the possibility that deleted emails could be recovered.
Congressional Republicans accused her of stonewalling.
“Her press conference raised more questions than it answered, and the American people deserve the truth,” said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) called it “insulting” to “merely trust” that Clinton shared all relevant emails. “This matter cannot be put to rest without a thorough forensic examination of the email server and an unbiased independent review of the records in question,” he wrote.
They had nothing to do with work … I didn’t see any reason to keep them.
- Hillary Clinton
State Department rules require agency employees to archive all their work emails to comply with federal record-keeping laws.
The White House has cited “very specific guidance” that officials should use government emails to conduct business.
Using carefully crafted language, Clinton said she complied by always sending emails to people at their official “.state” or “.gov” email accounts.
But the rules place the burden on the sender, not just the recipient of the message. Clinton admits she handed over the emails only after she left office.
“The laws and regulations in effect when I was secretary of state allowed me to use my email for work,” Clinton said, insisting her emails to government employees were “immediately captured and preserved.”
She said there were “numerous safeguards” and no security breaches, but provided no elaboration or evidence.
Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton