Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright weighed in Monday on the email controversy surrounding Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, saying she wouldn’t have approved the use of a private email server for officials in her State Department.
“I would not. No,” Ms. Albright told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” when asked if she would have allowed the use of a private server, like the one Mrs. Clinton used when she was in the job, by a deputy secretary of state, Politico reported.
Ms. Albright, who served during President Bill Clinton’s second term and who has been a longtime Clinton ally, did defend Mrs. Clinton’s email use, saying there was “no security breach.”
“I think she has spoken to this very clearly, and I do not see that as a security breach,” she said.
“I think that it is important to be tough because we are obviously concerned about hacking and a variety of issues, but I think she has explained what she’s done. She’s turned things over,” Ms. Albright said.
“I think that our government, generally, has to catch up with a variety of ways of using technology these days,” she added.
Ms. Albright later took to Twitter to explain her comments to Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin, who asked the question Monday.
“Albright is a strong @HillaryClinton backer but when asked on @Morning_Joe if using private email is ok, she said no,” Mr. Halperin tweeted.
“Your question was whether I would approve it now,” Ms. Albright responded. “After all of this controversy — of course not.”
“Bottom line is @hillaryclinton will be an exceptional president. She has explained & apologized. Now Let’s move on to the issues,” she added.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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