Better in their words…

A vote for Hillary is a vote for more lies, less transparency, more government by dictate, another Chief Executive who is above the law.
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By Laura Meckler And Josh Dawsey
Updated March 10, 2015 5:28 p.m. ET

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she used a personal email account instead of a government account during her four years in office because it was more convenient to carry one device rather than two, adding that she now thinks it would have been “smarter” to use two separate accounts.

“I thought using one device would be simpler, and, obviously, it hasn’t worked out that way,” Mrs. Clinton told a news conference Tuesday. “Looking back, it would have been probably … smarter to have used two devices.”

She said, though, that she had “absolute confidence” that she had turned over everything related to official business after the State Department requested such records last year, nearly two years after she left office. The State Department said Tuesday that it would post her emails on a public website after officials review them for release.

Last week, she asked that the State Department release her email to the public, which on Tuesday she called an “unprecedented step.”

After four years in office, she said, there were about 60,000 emails—about half related to official business and half personal.

Mrs. Clinton, the clear front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, delivered her comments to a packed news conference at the United Nations. They were her first public remarks about the matter since reports surfaced last week on her email practices. Previously, she had posted only one brief message on Twitter .

As secretary of state from 2009 until early 2013, Mrs. Clinton used a personal email account that was managed through a private computer server traced back to her home in Chappaqua, N.Y. The practice gave Mrs. Clinton more control over her emails—while complicating efforts by the media and the public to acquire them through public-records laws, critics say.
During a news conference, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discusses the email controversy, and the what lengths she would go to prove that there is full transparency and that no e-mails were deleted.

At the time she was secretary of state, it was not illegal to use a personal email account as long as records were preserved.

Mrs. Clinton had faced mounting pressure from fellow Democrats to come out with a more robust explanation of her actions than one offered by an aide last week.

“I fully complied with every rule I was governed by,” she said Tuesday. “The laws and regulations in effect when I was secretary of state allowed me to use my email for work. That is undisputed.”
Hillary Clinton spoke publicly for the first time about her use of a personal email account while she was Secretary of State. Is it enough to appease critics? Brooking Institution’s Darrell West discusses. Photo: Getty

It wasn’t until after she left office that the law changed to require that any email sent on a personal account be forwarded to an official account.

Asked why she didn’t turn the emails over sooner, she said that she fully expected the emails to be preserved because she often was emailing other State Department employees. She didn’t address the question of how she thought official emails to others were being preserved, as required.

She said that the email server, located at her home, included personal communications and it would “remain private.” Some have called for her to allow independent authorities to examine the server itself.

Mrs. Clinton also addressed criticism that it was her staff who decided which emails should be sent to the State Department and which should remain private. She responded that it is always the “responsibility of the individual” to make that determination.

She said she “chose not to keep” her “private, personal emails,” such as those regarding her daughter’s wedding, a condolence note or vacation planning.

“No one wants their personal emails made public, and I think most people understand that and respect that privacy,” she said.

Critics have questioned whether her staff gave the State Department all official emails and whether the delay in turning them over thwarted public-records requests in the interim.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R., S.C.)—chairman of a congressional committee investigating the 2012 terror attacks that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya—said Mrs. Clinton’s news conference left him with “more questions than answers.’’ He said he now wants her to testify before his panel twice—once to discuss her use of email and once to address questions about the attack, which occurred while Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state.

He also said Mrs. Clinton should make her personal email server available.

“Without access to Secretary Clinton’s personal server, there is no way for the State Department to know it has acquired all documents that should be made public,” Mr. Gowdy said in a statement.

Mrs. Clinton is expected to formally declare her candidacy for the presidency as early as April. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Monday showed that she enjoys strong support among all segments of the Democratic Party.

Speaking privately, some people in her circle have voiced worries that the email matter could damage her expected candidacy, reviving concerns the Clintons are excessively secretive. Such charges first took hold in Mr. Clinton’s presidency, when Mrs. Clinton headed a health-care task force that conducted business behind closed doors.

Write to Laura Meckler at laura.meckler@wsj.com and Joshua Dawsey at joshua.dawsey@wsj.com

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