Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Thursday was unfazed by a State Department inspector general’s report that concluded she violated agency rules by using a private email server.
Speaking in a television interview and quoted by Politico, Clinton said the report it will not be an issue “that is going to affect either the campaign or my presidency.”
The report, released Wednesday, found that the former Secretary of State violated a slew of department regulations with regards to her private email server.
According to the 80-page report on email record management and cybersecurity, Clinton violated the Federal Records Act when she failed to submit all work-related emails carried on the server to the State Department during her tenure as Secretary of State or upon her departure from the position.
The report also chides Clinton for failing to receive authorization to use her private email address and server, stating that the Inspector General’s Office “found no evidence that the Secretary requested or obtained guidance or approval to conduct official business via a personal email account on her private server.”
“Well, there may be reports that come out, but nothing has changed,” Clinton responded to the report said in her interview. “It’s the same story.”
“Many people [used private email]. It was not at all unprecedented. I have turned over all of my emails. No one else can say that,” she insisted.
“I have been incredibly open about doing that. I will continue to be open, and it’s not an issue that is going to affect either the campaign or my presidency,” said Clinton.
Clinton did not cooperate with the inspector general’s investigation, but she has said she is willing to be interviewed by the FBI, which is conducting its own probe into security risks posed by the unusual email setup.
She has said she used private emails out of “convenience”, though she has also admitted it “would have been better” to have two accounts to separate work and personal emails.
Clinton has apologized for the use of a private email server, even though she had insisted she didn’t need to apologize because “what I did was allowed.”
