NEW YORK – After resisting giving an unqualified apology for using a private email server during her time as secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton conceded Tuesday that she was sorry.
“That was a mistake. I’m sorry about that. I take responsibility,” she said in an interview with ABC’s David Muir.
Clinton’s comments came after she offered more reluctant answers in two recent interviews, confident that she did nothing wrong and therefore did not need to offer a blanket apology. She’s in the midst of a post-Labor Day reset aimed at shoring up her slumping favorability ratings as she struggled to put to rest the questions over her email practices at the State Department.
On Friday, she expressed regret for her decision and the way it played out, but not the apology for which some Americans hoped.
“I am sorry that this has been confusing to people and raised a lot of questions,” she told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “I take responsibility and it wasn’t the best choice,” she later added.
On Monday, Clinton again refused an all-encompassing apology, telling the Associated Press that she didn’t need to apologize for relying on her personal account because it was allowed by the State Department. “It was fully above board. Everybody in the government with whom I emailed knew that I was using a personal email, and I have said it would have been a better choice to have had two separate email accounts,” she said. “And I’ve also tried to not only take responsibility, because it was my decision, but to be as transparent as possible.”
On Tuesday, Clinton reiterated that she does not believe she sent or received information on the account that was classified on the time. The New York Times reported Monday that a review by two intelligence agencies had identified two emails sent to her that included information that was “Top Secret” at the time.
Clinton told Muir that she is “trying to be as transparent as I possibly can” in her handling of the email issue.
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