McCain accuses Clinton of hypocrisy on emails
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday suggested Hillary Clinton was hypocritical for exclusively using a private email account during her tenure as secretary of State.
“This is the same individual [who] just excoriated the Bush administration for supposedly hiding communications within the administration,” McCain said on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”
{mosads}In 2007, then-Sen. Clinton (D-N.Y.) said during a speech to a progressive audience, “Our Constitution is being shredded. We know about the secret wiretaps, we know about the secret military tribunals, the secret White House email accounts … it’s a stunning record of secrecy and corruption, of cronyism run amok.”
A top adviser to Clinton’s nascent campaign in the current presidential cycle, John Podesta, also in 2007 accused President Bush’s administration of using private emails to circumvent transparency rules.
Clinton has been apparently blindsided this week by a growing number of questions over her use of a private email, which emerged after a New York Times report Monday, and concerns over her private network’s security. Clinton handed over about 55,000 pages of hand-selected documents to State, the Times reported.
The State Department said Thursday that it would review for release emails Clinton has handed over after she tweeted late Wednesday night amid pressure that she had asked the department to release them.
“We will undertake this review as quickly as possible; given the sheer volume of the document set, this review will take some time to complete,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.
McCain said questions will linger after State releases its store of Clinton emails.
“The question, I think, that’s going to arise over time is, how can we be confident that once she carries out what she tweeted — that is that she wants all of the emails known — how are we going to know that? How are we going to have verification of that?” McCain asked on MSNBC.
“I think this is serious. I’m willing to give her or anyone who defends her the benefit of defending it or explaining it, but on its face, it seems to be rather serious,” McCain said.
Asked about his own communication habits, McCain admitted that he doesn’t use email himself because “from time to time, I get a little emotional.”
“I’m afraid that if I was emailing, given my solid, always-calm temperament, that I might email something that I might regret,” McCain said, adding he prefers using a phone or tweeting.
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