Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton told the Associated Press in a Monday interview that she won’t apologize for using a private email account at the State Department because the agency allowed her to do so.
“What I did was allowed,” she said when the AP asked why she wouldn’t directly apologize for deciding to use private email exclusively during her tenure as a Cabinet official. “It was allowed by the State Department. The State Department has confirmed that.”
“I did not send or receive any information marked classified,” she added. “I take the responsibilities of handling classified materials very seriously and did so.”
Asked whether the federal inquiries and news headlines surrounding her use of a private email account have damaged her campaign, Clinton told the AP that while it was certainly a “distraction,” “it hasn’t in any way affected the plan for our campaign.”
Clinton told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell last week that she was sorry the issues surrounding her private email account and server had confused people. She added that setting up the private server “wasn’t the best choice.”
