WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said Tuesday she is “sorry” for using a private email server, going further than ever before to express remorse for the controversy that has rocked her campaign.
“I’m sorry about that,” Clinton said, according to a video clip set to air on ABC News’ “World News Tonight with David Muir.” “I take responsibility and I am trying to be as transparent as I possibly can.”
It is unclear what Muir’s question was.
Though Clinton has expressed remorse and taken responsibility for her exclusive use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state, she told The Associated Press on Monday in Iowa that she doesn’t need to apologize for her nagging email controversy because “what I did was allowed.”
“(The email controversy) hasn’t in any way affected the plan for our campaign, the efforts we’re making to organize here in Iowa and elsewhere in the country,” Clinton said. “And I still feel very confident about the organization and the message that my campaign is putting out.”
In an interview with MSNBC earlier this month, Clinton apologized for the “confusion” around her exclusive use of a private email server as secretary of state and took responsibility for the controversy, but declined to directly apologize for the email set up.
Clinton’s aides have argued that she didn’t need to apologize, given what she did was allowed by the State Department, but Clinton’s answer on Tuesday seems further than she has gone before.
Clinton turned over 55,000 pages of emails to the State Department earlier this year, but the email controversy has not gone away, partly because of a congressional inquiry into the terrorist attacks in Benghazi has also focused on Clinton’s email set up.
David Axelrod, a former top campaign adviser to President Barack Obama, told said during “The Situation Room” Tuesday that Clinton’s evolving answers on the subject have been costly.
“Her answers have evolved over time and have prolonged this story,” said Axelrod, who is a CNN senior political commentator. “She’s trying to bring this thing to an end so she can be heard on other subjects, but she needs a consistent answer.”