NEW YORK – Hillary Rodham Clinton’s silence on the email controversy swirling around her is getting louder by the day.
On Monday, the potential 2016 Democratic presidential candidate ignored the issue at a forum while a second Democratic senator urged her to speak out – and predicted she will – about her decision to conduct business while secretary of state in a private email account. Republicans are ramping up their attention on the issue.
At the White House, spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama indeed knew she was using a nongovernment account during her tenure. Obama had indicated earlier that he only learned of that from recent news reports.
Earnest said the president actually learned from those news reports of Clinton’s privately run email server but was familiar with her private account earlier because the two had exchanged emails when she was in office. Obama did not know at the time that she was using private email exclusively, Earnest said.
Clinton spoke at a carefully choreographed two-hour event involving her No Ceilings project at the Clinton Foundation, highlighting economic and educational opportunities for women and girls. She took no questions. When she sat down to lead more informal conversations with invited speakers, participants appeared to be reading from teleprompters.
On Monday, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said Clinton will probably address the matter – and should.
“I think that you’re going to hear something from Secretary Clinton this week,” she said on MSNBC. “I’m fairly certain it will be soon. I think that’s very important.”
The Republican National Committee used the vacuum Monday to keep the pressure on Clinton, noting a State Department policy requiring all outgoing employees to turn over job-related materials before leaving. The policy required such employees to sign a “separation statement” declaring they had “surrendered to responsible officials all unclassified documents” related to official business during their employment.
Clinton is approaching a public decision on a 2016 presidential campaign and remains the leading prospect for the Democratic nomination if she seeks the White House again.
