‘I complied with rules,’ Clinton says after criticism for using ‘non-secure’ private email

Hillary Rodham Clinton conceded yesterday that she should have used government email as US secretary of state and acknowledged she had destroyed tens of thousands of emails in her private account that she described as personal in nature. “I fully complied by every rule I was governed by,” Clinton said in a 20-minute news conference that marked her first comments on the matter. The former secretary of state described her decision to rely exclusively on her private account as a matter of convenience and a way to avoid carrying two devices. She said she had not used her personal email to discuss any classified information. "Looking back, it would have been better for me to use two separate phones and two email accounts," Clinton said. "I thought using one device would be simpler, and obviously, it hasn’t worked out that way." Her email practices have raised questions about whether she fully complied with federal laws requiring government officials to preserve written communications involving official business. Rival Republicans have said Clinton avoided transparency and committed an ethical lapse. The controversy has upended Clinton’s careful blueprint for the rollout of her next year presidential campaign. The clear front runner for the Democratic nomination, Clinton had planned to spend March touting her work on women’s issues and giving a handful of paid speeches before announcing her candidacy in early April. Clinton tried to stick to that plan but as criticism from Republicans mounted and Democratic allies started publicly pushing Clinton to address the matter, her team hastily arranged the brief news conference. Clinton said her server would remain private. She said she had exchanged 60,000 emails, half of which were personal and were discarded. “I had no reason to save them,” Clinton said of the personal emails. She described the destroyed communications as ones related to her daughter’s wedding, her mother’s funeral, her yoga routine and other matters. “Everything that would be in any way connected to work is now in possession in the State Department,” Clinton said. Clinton broke her silence shortly after delivering remarks at a women’s empowerment event at the United Nations. She then made her way to a nearby hallway where dozens of reporters and photographers were awaiting her first formal news conference since leaving the State Department in early 2013. Before the question-and-answer session, Clinton’s only comment on the matter had been a late-night tweet last week saying she wanted the State Department to the release her emails. Clinton served as the nation’s top diplomat throughout President Barack Obama’s first term. In late last year, nearly two years after she left the administration, she turned over 55,000 pages of emails to the State Department in response to an agency request. The department says it will take several months to review the material. Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Tuesday that once the review is complete, the emails will be posted online for the public to see. Passages revealing anything from trade secrets to sensitive national security information could be redacted, in keeping with Freedom of Information Act guidelines. FACT CHECK: How Hillary Rodham Clinton’s statements about her exclusive use of private email instead of a government account as secretary of state compare with the known facts: CLINTON: “Others had done it.” Although email practices varied among her predecessors, Clinton is the only secretary of state known to have conducted all official unclassified government business on a private email address. Years earlier, when emailing was not an ubiquitous practice for high-ranking officials, Colin Powell used both a government and a private account. It’s a striking departure from the norm for top officials to rely exclusively on private email for official business. CLINTON: “I fully complied with every rule I was governed by.” At the very least, Clinton appears to have violated what the White House has called “very specific guidance” that officials should use government email to conduct business. Clinton provided no details about whether she had initially consulted with the department or other government officials before using the private email system. She did not answer several questions about whether she sought any clearances before she began relying exclusively on private emails for government business. Federal officials are allowed to communicate on private email and are generally allowed to conduct government business in those exchanges, but that ability is constrained, both by federal regulations and by their supervisors. Federal law during Clinton’s tenure called for the archiving of such private email records when used for government work, but did not set out clear rules or punishments for violations until rules were tightened in November. In 2011, when Clinton was secretary, a cable from her office sent to all employees advised them to avoid conducting any official business on their private email accounts because of targeting by unspecified “online adversaries.” CLINTON: “I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material.” The assertion fits with the facts as known but skirts the issue of exchanging information in a private account that, while falling below the level of classified, is still sensitive. The State Department and other national security agencies have specified rules for the handling of such sensitive material, which could affect national security, diplomatic and privacy concerns, and may include material such as personnel, medical and law enforcement data. CLINTON: “It had numerous safeguards. It was on property guarded by the Secret Service. And there were no security breaches.” While Clinton’s server was physically guarded by the Secret Service, she provided no evidence it hadn’t been compromised by hackers or foreign adversaries. She also didn’t detail who administered the email system, if it received appropriate software security updates, or if it was monitored routinely for unauthorised access. Clinton also didn’t answer whether the homebrew computer system on her property had the same level of safeguards provided at professional data facilities, such as regulated temperatures, offsite backups, generators in case of power outages and fire-suppression systems. It was unclear what, if any, encryption software Clinton’s server may have used to communicate with US government email accounts. Recent high-profile breaches, including at Sony Pictures Entertainment, have raised scrutiny on how well corporations and private individuals protect their computer networks from attack.