Carly Fiorina: If hackers can get into Sony, they can get into server in Clinton’s basement

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina cast doubt on Wednesday on the security of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham’s private email system that she used when working for the Obama administration, saying if hackers could breach Sony, they could get into a server on Mrs. Clinton’s property.

“I think Mrs. Clinton needs to understand that transparency is a core principle of leadership,” Ms. Fiorina, who is considering a run for president in 2016 on the Republican side, said on CNN’s “New Day.” “Because people need to trust leaders’ character and competence and motivation. They need to see that actions match words, and so honestly, I think she believes this is a partisan issue. It’s really not.”

“This is a person, basically, [who’s] saying her server can’t possible have been hacked because it was guarded by Secret Service agents,” she continued. “Goodness, if hackers can get into Sony and Bank of America, they can get into a server in her basement.”

According to a fact sheet provided by Mrs. Clinton’s office, the server, protected by the U.S. Secret Service, was not hacked and there was never an unauthorized intrusion into her email.

But Ms. Fiorina said that trust issues with Mrs. Clinton also tie to the administration’s initial talking points on the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, saying the attack was spurred by a protest against a video.

“Secondly, she says basically, ’trust us, everything I deleted is personal,’ ” Ms. Fiorina said. “But remember, this is the same person who told us that Benghazi was a demonstration gone bad and the fault of a videographer in L.A. when clearly she knew that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, so I hope that she will be more transparent, and I would just say that leaders need to build trust. And she’s not building a lot of trust right now.”

Asked if she wants Mrs. Clinton to hand over her private server, as some Republicans have been calling for, Mrs. Fiorina said: “I think it’s in her interests to be as transparent as possible about this. I think it’s also clear that she does not intend to [be] so.”