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Reuters

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton won unexpected support from chief rival Bernie Sanders for her use of a private email server as US secretary of state, helping to defuse an issue that has overshadowed her campaign.
Echoing comments she has made before, Clinton said her decision to not use a government email address was a mistake, but she emphasised that she wanted to focus her energy on policy issues that were more important to voters.
Sanders unexpectedly came to her aid. “Let me say something that may not be great politics, but I think the secretary is right,” he said. “The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.”
The crowd roared and Clinton beamed.
“Thank you, Bernie,” she said, smiling broadly and shaking hands warmly with the US senator from Vermont amid enthusiastic applause.

The moment of warmth contrasted with earlier clashes that the two candidates had over capitalism, gun control and US policy in Syria.
Clinton has said her email server in her New York State home was used for convenience and not to skirt transparency laws. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken the server and other computer hardware to determine whether sensitive government information was mishandled in Clinton’s email correspondence.
The issue has hurt Clinton in polls and given fodder to the slate of Republican presidential candidates who would like to be her rival in the November 2016 general election.
Five hopefuls took part in Tuesday night’s Democratic Party debate.
One of them, former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee, who has been critical of Clinton in the context of the emails, said it was important that the next president adhere to the best in ethical standards.
Asked by the moderator if she wanted to respond, Clinton answered, to applause, with one word: “No.”

Clinton, who is trying to slow Sanders’ momentum, directly attacked him for saying the United States should model its economy after European countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
“I think what Senator Sanders is saying certainly makes sense in the terms of the inequality that we have. But we are not Denmark. I love Denmark. We’re the United States of America,” Clinton said.
Sanders, a self-described “democratic socialist,” said he did not subscribe to the capitalist system.
“Do I consider myself part of the casino capitalist process by which so few have so much and so many have so little, by which Wall Street’s greed and recklessness wrecked this economy? No, I don’t,” he said.
Sanders is polling ahead of Clinton in the early voting state of New Hampshire and drawing large crowds at campaign events nationwide.
The two candidates also clashed over gun violence, an increasingly potent issue in the election after repeated school shootings across the country.
Clinton, 67, said Sanders, 74, had not been tough enough on the issue and said he had voted against a provision that would have held gun manufacturers more accountable.
Sanders has pushed for what he calls a sensible approach on gun control and voted against the 1993 Brady handgun bill that President Bill Clinton signed into law.
Asked to defend himself, Sanders said he supported the expansion of background checks for people wanting to buy guns and to scrap gaps in the law that make it easier to sell and buy guns at gun shows.
As well as Chafee, the two leading candidates were joined by former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and former US Senator James Webb of Virginia in the first of six scheduled debates in the race to be the party's nominee in the November 2016 presidential election.
One person who was not on the stage but loomed large over the debate: Vice-President Joe Biden, who is considering launching his own run for the nomination.
The televised encounter comes at a critical time for Clinton, whose once overwhelming lead among Democrats in polls has slipped amid questions about her use of a private email server instead of a government account when she was the top US diplomat.
The lesser known candidates made veiled attacks at Clinton at the top of the debate. Chafee noted he had “no scandals” during his political career; Webb said he was not co-opted by the political system.
In response to Sanders’ success, Clinton has taken stances on several key issues recently that align her with the left wing of the party.
She reversed course to announce her opposition to the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that she had praised when she was secretary of state, and she rejected the Keystone XL pipeline that she had said in 2010 she was inclined to approve. Sanders is a longtime opponent of both projects.


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Bernie Sanders backs Hillary Clinton over her ‘damn emails’ in first Democratic debate

Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (L) tells former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that he and the American people are sick of hearing about her State Department email controversy and want to hear about other issues as they participate in the first official Democratic candidates debate of the 2016 presidential campaign in Las Vegas, Nevada October 13, 2015. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Democratic Presidential candidates Jim Webb (L) , Bernie Sanders (2L), Hillary Rodham Clinton (C), Martin O'Malley (2R), and Lincoln Chafee take part in the first Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 13, 2015. Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton will finally square off Tuesday with top rival Bernie Sanders in the party's first debate of the 2016 campaign as she seeks to prove she is the candidate to beat. AFP PHOTO/ JOHN HANER/ POOL

Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during the first Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 13, 2015. Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton will finally square off Tuesday with top rival Bernie Sanders in the party's first debate of the 2016 campaign as she seeks to prove she is the candidate to beat. AFP PHOTO/ JOHN HANER/ POOL

Democratic presidential candidate US Senator Bernie Sanders tells Hillary Clinton that he and the American people are sick of hearing about her State Department email controversy. Photo: Reuters

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Hillary Clinton met with then-vice president, Xi Jinping in 2012. Photo: AP

Hillary Rodham Clinton gives a landmark speech on women's rights in Beijing in 1995, described as an "iconic moment".Photo: AFP

Republican U.S. presidential candidates (left to right) Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Carly Fiorina debating at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Photo: Reuters

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Vice President Joe Biden. Photo: AP

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Demonstrators holding signs reading "No KXL," referring to the Keystone XL pipeline, interrupt US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during a campaign stop in Portland. Photo: Reuters

A depot used to store pipes for Transcanada Corp's planned Keystone XL oil pipeline in Gascoyne North Dakota. Photo: Reuters

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Bernie Sanders backs Hillary Clinton over her ‘damn emails’ in first Democratic debate

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