OPINION:
Shocker: Hillary Clinton took questions from the media today.
Q: “There was a report out this morning that you exchanged several emails [with former aide Sidney Blumenthal]. Should Americans expect that if elected you would have that same type of relationship with these old friends that you’ve had for so long?”
CLINTON: [Laughs] I have many, many old friends and I always think that it’s important when you get into politics to have friends you had before you were in politics and to understand what’s on their minds and he’s been a friend of mine for a long time. He sent me unsolicited emails, which I passed on in some instances. That’s just part of the give and take: When you’re in the public eye, when you’re in a official position, I think you do have to work to make sure you’re not caught in a bubble and you only hear from a certain small group of people, and I’m going to keep talking to my old friends, whoever they are.
Q: We learned today that the State Department might not release your emails until January 2016. A federal judge said they should be released sooner. Will you demand that they be released sooner and to follow up on the questions about the speeches, was there a conflict of interest in your giving paid speeches into the run-up to the announcement that you’re running for president?
CLINTON: [NODDING REPEATEDLY] The answer to the second is: No; and the answer to the first id I have said repeatedly, I want those emails out. Nobody has a bigger interest in getting them released than I do. I respect the State Department,.they have their process, that they do for everybody, not just fro me. But anything that they might do to expedite that process I heartily support. You know, I want the American people to learn as much as we can about the work that I did with our diplomats and our development experts. Because I think it will show how hard we worked and what we did for our country during the time that I was Secretary of State, where I worked extremely hard on behalf of our values and or interests and our security. And the emails are part of that. I have said it publicly and I’m repeating it today her in front of all of you today, I want them out as soon as they can get them out.
Q: But will you demand it?
CLINTON: They’re not mine. They belong to the State Department. The State Department has to go through its process but as much as they can expedite that process, that’s what I’m asking them to do: Please move as quickly as they possibly can to get them out.
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