Hillary Clinton on Wednesday clarified that she alone bore responsibility for the decision to use a private email server as secretary of state.
Asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper about reports she’d told the FBI that former secretary of state Colin Powell was the one who advised her to use a personal email account, the Democratic nominee said she did not intend to shift blame.
“I have the utmost respect for Secretary Powell,” Clinton said. “He was incredibly gracious and helpful after I was nominated and before I took the job. I appreciated the time he took when I was preparing to become secretary. I valued his advice. I’m not going to re-litigate in public my private conversation with him.”
“I’ve been asked many, many questions in the past year about emails, and what I’ve learned is that when I try to explain what happened, it can sound like I’m trying to excuse what I did,” she continued. “And there are no excuses. I want people to know that the decision to have a single email account was mine. I take responsibility for it. I’ve apologized for it. I would certainly do it differently if I could.”
Powell this week accused Clinton’s campaign of trying to “pin” her email scandal on his advice.
