Clinton Addresses Email Controversy

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Hillary Rodham Clinton held a press conference this afternoon after addressing the United Nations. In the press conference, she spoke publicly about her use of private email accounts as Secretary of State and then answered questions from reporters. Rather than quoting what Clinton said during this press conference, watch the video above, or read the full transcript of the press conference below.

TRANSCRIPT:

CLINTON: Good afternoon.

I want to thank the United Nations for hosting today’s events and putting the challenge of gender equality front and center on the international agenda. I’m especially pleased to have so many leaders here from the private sector standing shoulder to shoulder with advocates who have worked tirelessly for equality for decades.

Twenty years ago, this was a lonelier struggle. Today, we mark the progress that has been made in the two decades since the international community gathered in Beijing and declared with one voice that human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights.

And because of advances in health, education, and legal protections, we can say that there has never been a better time in history to be born female. Yet as the comprehensive new report, published by the Clinton Foundation and the Gates Foundation this week makes clear, despite all this progress, when it comes to the full participation of women and girls, we’re just not there yet.

As I said today, this remains the great unfinished business of the 21st century. And my passion for this fight burns as brightly today as it did 20 years ago.

I want to comment on a matter in the news today regarding Iran. The president and his team are in the midst of intense negotiations. Their goal is a diplomatic solution that would close off Iran’s pathways to a nuclear bomb and give us unprecedented access and insight into Iran’s nuclear program.

Now, reasonable people can disagree about what exactly it will take to accomplish this objective, and we all must judge any final agreement on its merits.

But the recent letter from Republican senators was out of step with the best traditions of American leadership. And one has to ask, what was the purpose of this letter?

There appear to be two logical answers. Either these senators were trying to be helpful to the Iranians or harmful to the commander- in-chief in the midst of high-stakes international diplomacy. Either answer does discredit to the letters’ signatories.

Now, I would be pleased to talk more about this important matter, but I know there have been questions about my email, so I want to address that directly, and then I will take a few questions from you.

There are four things I want the public to know.

First, when I got to work as secretary of state, I opted for convenience to use my personal email account, which was allowed by the State Department, because I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two.

Looking back, it would’ve been better if I’d simply used a second email account and carried a second phone, but at the time, this didn’t seem like an issue.

Second, the vast majority of my work emails went to government employees at their government addresses, which meant they were captured and preserved immediately on the system at the State Department.

Third, after I left office, the State Department asked former secretaries of state for our assistance in providing copies of work- related emails from our personal accounts. I responded right away and provided all my emails that could possibly be work-related, which totalled roughly 55,000 printed pages, even though I knew that the State Department already had the vast majority of them. We went through a thorough process to identify all of my work- related emails and deliver them to the State Department. At the end, I chose not to keep my private personal emails — emails about planning Chelsea’s wedding or my mother’s funeral arrangements, condolence notes to friends as well as yoga routines, family vacations, the other things you typically find in inboxes.

No one wants their personal emails made public, and I think most people understand that and respect that privacy.

Fourth, I took the unprecedented step of asking that the State Department make all my work-related emails public for everyone to see.

I am very proud of the work that I and my colleagues and our public servants at the department did during my four years as secretary of state, and I look forward to people being able to see that for themselves.

Again, looking back, it would’ve been better for me to use two separate phones and two email accounts. I thought using one device would be simpler, and obviously, it hasn’t worked out that way.

Now I’m happy to take a few questions.

QUESTION: Secretary Clinton, can you…

CLINTON: Just a minute. Nick (ph) is calling on people.

QUESTION: Sorry.

Madam Secretary, Kahraman Haliscelik with Turkish Television. On behalf of the U.N. Correspondence Association, thank you very much for your remarks, and it’s wonderful to see you here again.

Madam Secretary, why did you opt out not using two devices at the time? Obviously, if this didn’t come out, you wouldn’t — probably wouldn’t become an issue.

QUESTION: And my — my second follow-up question is, if you were a man today, would all this fuss being made be made?

Thank you.

CLINTON: Well, I will — I will leave that to others to answer.

But as I — as I said, I saw it as a matter of convenience, and it was allowed. Others had done it. According to the State Department, which recently said Secretary Kerry was the first secretary of state to rely primarily on a state.gov e-mail account.

And when I got there, I wanted to just use one device for both personal and work e-mails, instead of two. It was allowed. And as I said, it was for convenience. And it was my practice to communicate with State Department and other government officials on their .gov accounts so those e-mails would be automatically saved in the State Department system to meet recordkeeping requirements, and that, indeed, is what happened.

And I heard just a little while ago the State Department announced they would begin to post some of my e-mails, which I’m very glad to hear, because I want it all out there.

QUESTION: Madam Secretary, can you…

CLINTON: Andrea? Andrea, thank you, Andrea.

QUESTION: Can you explain how you decided which of the personal e-mails to get rid of, how you got rid of them and when? And how you’ll respond to questions about you being the arbiter of what you release?

And, secondly, could you answer the questions that have been raised about foreign contributions from Middle Eastern countries, like Saudi Arabia, that abuse women or permit violence against women to the family foundation and whether that disturbs you as you are rightly celebrating 20 years of leadership on this issue?

CLINTON: Well, those are two very different questions. Let me see if I can take them in order. And I’ll give you some of the background.

In going through the e-mails, there were over 60,000 in total, sent and received. About half were work-related and went to the State Department and about half were personal that were not in any way related to my work. I had no reason to save them, but that was my decision because the federal guidelines are clear and the State Department request was clear.

For any government employee, it is that government employee’s responsibility to determine what’s personal and what’s work-related. I am very confident of the process that we conducted and the e-mails that were produced.

And I feel like once the American public begins to see the e- mails, they will have an unprecedented insight into a high government official’s daily communications, which I think will be quite interesting.

With respect to the foundation, I am very proud of the work the foundation does. I’m very proud of the hundreds of thousands of people who support the work of the foundation and the results that have been achieved for people here at home and around the world.

And I think that we are very clear about where we stand, certainly where I stand, on all of these issues. There can’t be any mistake about my passion concerning women’s rights here at home and around the world.

So I think that people who want to support the foundation know full well what it is we stand for and what we’re working on.

CLINTON: Hi, right here.

QUESTION: Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: She’s sort of squashed, so we’ve got to…

QUESTION: Hi, Secretary.

CLINTON: Hi.

QUESTION: I was wondering if you think that you made a mistake either in exclusively using your private e-mail or in response to the controversy around it. And, if so, what have you learned from that?

CLINTON: Well, I have to tell you that, as I said in my remarks, looking back, it would have been probably, you know, smarter to have used two devices. But I have absolute confidence that everything that could be in any way connected to work is now in the possession of the State Department.

And I have to add, even if I had had two devices, which is obviously permitted — many people do that — you would still have to put the responsibility where it belongs, which is on the official. So I did it for convenience and I now, looking back, think that it might have been smarter to have those two devices from the very beginning.

QUESTION: Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: Yes? QUESTION: Did you or any of your aides delete any government- related e-mails from your personal account? And what lengths are you willing to go to to prove that you didn’t?

Some people, including supporters of yours, have suggested having an independent arbiter look at your server, for instance.

CLINTON: We did not. In fact, my direction to conduct the thorough investigation was to err on the side of providing anything that could be possibly viewed as work related.

That doesn’t mean they will be by the State Department once the State Department goes through them, but out of an abundance of caution and care, you know, we wanted to send that message unequivocally.

That is the responsibility of the individual and I have fulfilled that responsibility, and I have no doubt that we have done exactly what we should have done. When the search was conducted, we were asking that any email be identified and preserved that could potentially be federal records, and that’s exactly what we did.

And we went, as I said, beyond that. And the process produced over 30,000 you know, work emails, and I think that we have more than met the requests from the State Department. The server contains personal communications from my husband and me, and I believe I have met all of my responsibilities and the server will remain private and I think that the State Department will be able, over time, to release all of the records that were provided.

QUESTION: Madam Secretary, can you…

CLINTON: Right there.

QUESTION: Madam Secretary, two quick follow ups. You mentioned the server. That’s one of the distinctions here.

This wasn’t Gmail or Yahoo or something. This was a server that you owned. Is that appropriate? Is it — was there any precedent for it? Did you clear it with any State Department security officials? And do they have — did they have full access to it when you were secretary?

And then separately, will any of this have any bearing or effect on your timing or decision about whether or not you run for president? Thank you.

CLINTON: Well, the system we used was set up for President Clinton’s office. And it had numerous safeguards. It was on property guarded by the Secret Service. And there were no security breaches.

So, I think that the — the use of that server, which started with my husband, certainly proved to be effective and secure. Now, with respect to any sort of future — future issues, look, I trust the American people to make their decisions about political and public matters. And I feel that I’ve taken unprecedented steps to provide these work-related emails. They’re going to be in the public domain. And I think that Americans will find that you know, interesting, and I look forward to having a discussion about that.

QUESTION: Madam Secretary?

CLINTON: Hi.

QUESTION: How could the public be assured that when you deleted emails that were personal in nature, that you didn’t also delete emails that were professional, but possibly unflattering?

And what do you think about this Republican idea of having an independent third party come in an examine your emails?

CLINTON: Well first of all, you have to ask that question to every single federal employee, because the way the system works, the federal employee, the individual, whether they have one device, two devices, three devices, how many addresses, they make the decision.

So, even if you have a work-related device with a work-related .gov account, you choose what goes on that. That is the way our system works. And so we trust and count on the judgment of thousands, maybe millions of people to make those decisions.

And I feel that I did that and even more, that I went above and beyond what I was requested to do. And again, those will be out in the public domain, and people will be able to judge for themselves.

QUESTION: Okay, Madam.

Madam Secretary?

Madam Secretary, excuse me.

Madam Secretary, State Department rules at the time you were secretary were perfectly clear that if a State Department employee was going to be using private email, that employee needed to turn those emails over to the State Department to be preserved on government computers.

Why did you not do that? Why did you not go along with State Department rules until nearly two years after you left office?

QUESTION: And also, the president of the United States said that he was unaware that you had this unusual email arrangement. The White House counsel’s office says that you never approved this arrangement through them.

Why did you not do that? Why did you — why have you apparently caught the White House by surprise?

And then just one last political question, if I — I might. Does all of this make — affect your decision in any way on whether or not to run for president?

CLINTON: Well, let me try to unpack your multiple questions.

First, the laws and regulations in effect when I was secretary of state allowed me to use my email for work. That is undisputed.

Secondly, under the Federal Records Act, records are defined as reported information, regardless of its form or characteristics, and in meeting the record keeping obligations, it was my practice to email government officials on their state or other .gov accounts so that the emails were immediately captured and preserved.

Now, there are different rules governing the White House than there are governing the rest of the executive branch, and in order to address the requirements I was under, I did exactly what I have said. I emailed two people, and I not only knew, I expected that then to be captured in the State Department or any other government agency that I was emailing to at a .gov account.

What happened in — sorry, I guess late summer, early — early fall, is that the State Department sent a letter to former secretaries of state, not just to me, asking for some assistance in providing any work-related emails that might be on the personal email.

And what I did was to direct, you know, my counsel to conduct a thorough investigation and to err on the side of providing anything that could be connected to work. They did that, and that was my obligation. I fully fulfilled it, and then I took the unprecedented step of saying, “Go ahead and release them, and let people see them.”

QUESTION: Why did you wait two months? Why — why did you wait two months to turn those emails over? The rules say you have to turn them over…

(CROSSTALK) CLINTON: I don’t think — I’d be happy to have somebody talk to you about the rules. I fully complied with every rule that I was governed by.

QUESTION: Were you ever — were you ever specifically briefed on the security implications of using — using your own email server and using your personal address to email with the president?

CLINTON: I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material.

So I’m certainly well-aware of the classification requirements and did not send classified material.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CLINTON: Because they were personal and private about matters that I believed were within the scope of my personal privacy and that particularly of other people. They have nothing to do with work, but I didn’t see any reason to keep them.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: At the end of the process.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: … who was forced to resign two years ago because of his personal use of emails?

By the way, David Shuster from Al Jazeera America.

CLINTON: Yeah. Right…

QUESTION: What about Ambassador Scott (inaudible) being forced to resign?

CLINTON: David, I think you should go online and read the entire I.G. report. That is not an accurate representation of what happened.

(CROSSTALK)

CLINTON: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all.

Video Source: YouTube

News Source: Time

 

Women’s Empowerment Principles Annual Event

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Hillary Rodham Clinton was the keynote speaker at the Women’s Empowerment Principles Annual Event at the United Nations. Clinton focused on the progress of women around the world and highlighted the work that still needs to be done. Her appearance came a day after unveiling the Clinton Foundation’s No Ceilings report which studies women’s progress around the world over the last twenty years. While this event was overshadowed Clinton’s press conference where she addressed the issue of using a personal email while at the State Department, it is a continuation of her work empowering women and girls around the world.

Video Source: YouTube

Clinton Foundation: Not There Yet: A Data Driven Analysis of Gender Equality

Monday, March 9, 2015

Hillary Rodham Clinton took part in a major release from the Clinton Foundation entitled Not There Yet: A Data Driven Analysis of Gender Equality. Part of the No Ceilings Project, the report outlines the progress of women around the world. To read the findings of the report, visit the website by clicking above. The full press release about the report is below and you may watch a video from the event by CLICKING HERE.

PRESS RELEASE:

The No Ceilings Initiative Releases its Full Participation Report and Data on the Status of Women and Girls through NoCeilings.org
New York, NY

20 years of global data compiled by No Ceilings show that while progress is possible, more must be done to achieve ‘full and equal participation’ for women and girls worldwide

New York, NY — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Gates Foundation Co-Chair Melinda Gates and Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton will join global and community leaders for the official release of the No Ceilings Full Participation Report and data visualization site NoCeilings.org on Monday, March 9, at 11:00am in New York City. The release coincides with the commencement of the 59th session of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women.

The No Ceilings Full Participation Report is the culmination of a year-long effort to aggregate and analyze new and existing global data by the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in collaboration with The Economist Intelligence Unit, UCLA WORLD Policy Analysis Center, and Fathom Information Design. This comprehensive data is available in written form, as well as through a collection of interactive and sharable visualizations, graphics, stories, and compelling videos produced by Scratch, a division of Viacom. The data is open and easily downloadable.

The No Ceilings Full Participation Report and NoCeilings.org builds on the momentum of “NOT THERE,” an awareness effort launched on International Women’s Day, which brought together leading publications, fashion and consumer brands, celebrities, artists, and members of the social media community to make the point that we’re “not there” yet on issues of gender equality, both at home and abroad.

The No Ceilings data advances the evidence-based case for gender equality. The analysis finds that progress is possible – particularly when countries commit resources and political will. However, more must be done to accelerate the pace of change and achieve the full participation of women and girls in the 21st century.

The report and NoCeilings.org identifies and brings to life the significant gains women and girls have made – and the gaps that still remain – since the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, when Secretary Clinton called on the international community to ensure “women’s rights are human rights.” Key highlights from the report and data include:

Significant progress has been made in the areas of health and education; for example, the rate of maternal mortality has almost been cut in half since 1995, and the gap between the number of boys and girls completing primary schools globally has nearly closed.

In other areas, the pace of change has been far too slow, including women’s economic participation, leadership, and security.  Even where there has been progress, the gains have not been shared by all: geography, income, age, race, ethnicity disability, sexual orientation, and cultural norms remain powerful determinants of a woman’s chance at equal rights and opportunities.

The world has reached a critical moment and can no longer afford to overlook the potential of half the population. Not only is the evidence about the benefits of full participation of women and girls to prosperity and stability stronger than ever before, but we have stronger tools to help accelerate progress, including 21st century technologies and dedicated private sector allies.

Findings from the report and NoCeilings.org will be on display and brought to life at today’s No Ceilings event: “Not There Yet: A Data Driven Analysis of Gender Equality.” The event, which begins at 11:00a.m., ET, at the Best Buy Theatre in New York City, will bring together and showcase the compelling stories of global and community leaders who are actively taking steps to advance the full participation of women and girls in their nations and communities. Storytellers, speakers and participants include:

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
Melinda Gates, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Chelsea Clinton, Vice Chair, Clinton Foundation
Her Excellency Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, President of the Republic of Croatia
Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of LIberia
Darril Astrida Saunders, Founder, Exotic Caribbean Mountain Pride
Shabana Basij-Rasikh, Co-founder and President, School of Leadership, Afghanistan
Ikram Ben Said, Founder and President, Aswat Nisaa
Usha Choudhary, Secretary and Program Director, Vikalp Sansthan
America Ferrera, Actor, Producer, Activist
Nely Galan, Founder of The Adelante Movement
Helene D. Gayle, MD, MPH, President and CEO, CARE
Wanjira Mathai, Director, wPOWER: Women’s Partnerships in Renewables
Mrs. Mary Robinson, President, Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice
Debra Sterling, CEO, GoldieBlox
Dr. Lisa Su, President and CEO, AMD
Genette Thelusmond, Auxiliare Midwife, Midwives for Haiti
Dr. Marcela Tovar-Restrepo, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)
Uzma, School of Leadership, Afghanistan Scholar
Yogesh Vaishnav, Treasurer and Program Manager, Vikalp Sansthan
Melanne Verveer, Executive Director, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security
Bruce Wilkinson, President & Chief Executive Officer, Catholic Medical Mission Board
Sheryl WuDunn, Co-author, A Path Appears
Malala Yousafzai, 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Co-Founder of the Malala Fund (via video)

About The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation
The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation convenes businesses, governments, NGOs, and individuals to improve global health and wellness, increase opportunity for women and girls, reduce childhood obesity, create economic opportunity and growth, and help communities address the effects of climate change. Because of our work, 26,000 American schools are providing kids with healthy food choices in an effort to eradicate childhood obesity; more than 40,000 farmers in Malawi, Tanzania, and Rwanda have improved their incomes by more than 500 percent; 33,500 tons of greenhouse gas emissions being reduced annually across the U.S.; more than 5,000 people have been trained in marketable job skills in Colombia; 8.2 million people have access to lifesaving HIV/AIDS medications; $200 million in strategic investments have been made, impacting the health of 75 million people in the U.S.; and members of the Clinton Global Initiative have made nearly 3,100 Commitments to Action to improve more than 430 million lives around the world.

Learn more at http://www.clintonfoundation.org, on Facebook at Facebook.com/ClintonFoundation and on Twitter @ClintonFdn.

About The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Sue Desmond-Hellmann and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

About The Economist Intelligence Unit
The Economist Intelligence Unit is the research arm of The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist. As the world’s leading provider of country intelligence, we help governments, institutions and businesses by providing timely, reliable and impartial analysis of economic and development strategies. Through our public policy practice, we provide evidence-based research for policymakers and stakeholders seeking measureable outcomes, in fields ranging from gender and finance to energy and technology. We conduct our research through interviews, regulatory analysis, quantitative modelling and forecasting, and we display the results via interactive data visualisation tools. Through a global network of more than 350 analysts and contributors, we continuously assess and forecast political, economic and business conditions in more than 200 countries. For more information, visit http://www.eiu.com

About UCLA WORLD Policy Analysis Center
The WORLD Policy Analysis Center at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health is the first and largest data center providing quantitatively analyzable data on policies and laws in 197 countries and Beijing Platform signatories in a range of critical areas, including education, health, environment, poverty, families, adult labor, marriage, childhood, child labor, equal rights and discrimination, aging, disability and gender.

About Fathom Information Design
Fathom Information Design partners with clients to understand, express, and navigate complex data through visualizations, interactive tools, and software.  Fathom founder Ben Fry received his doctoral degree from the Aesthetics + Computation Group at the MIT Media Laboratory, where his research focused on combining fields such as computer science, statistics, graphic design, and data visualization as a means for understanding information. Fry founded Fathom in 2010 and in 2011 he won the National Design Award for Interaction Design.  Based in Boston, Fathom’s recent projects include OpenIndia with the World Bank Group, Connected China with Reuters, and What the World Eats with National Geographic.  http://www.fathom.info

Video Source: Livestream

News Source: Clinton Foundation

Data 2X Announcement

Monday, December 15, 2014

Hillary Rodham Clinton, along with the Bloomberg Foundation, spoke on behalf of Data 2X, a effort run by the United Nations Foundation. The group’s goal is to fill in the gaps related to available data about women’s issues in the developing world. Data 2X was launched by Clinton when she was Secretary of State, but today’s announcement was adding the partnership of the Clinton Foundation and Bloomberg Foundation. At the event, Clinton said that data is important because it clearly demonstrates failures and progress. She also spoke about how she has been treated at times when discussing women’s issues with US and foreign officials. She said, “You could just see the wheels turning: ‘Oh right, I knew she was going to raise women and girls. I will just smile, it will pass, and then we will talk about really important things.’”

A video from this event will be posted when/if available.

News and Image Source: USA Today

Latvia’s Order of the Three Stars

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Hillary Rodham Clinton was awarded Latvia’s honorary Order of the Three Stars. Clinton was presented the medal by President Andris Bērziņš while he was attending the United Nations. President Bērziņš thanked Clinton for her work on US-Latvian relations, and she stressed the commitment the US has in the Baltic region.

News Source: Pubic Broadcasting of Latvia

Empowerment of Women and Girls Conference

Friday, September 12, 2014

Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke at a conference aimed at empowering women and girls. Lissa Muscatine, who owns the Politics and Prose bookstore, interviewed Clinton at the event. Clinton spoke about the recent kidnapping of women in Africa saying that the United Nations needs to develop a strategy to find these groups and bring them to justice.

A video from the event will be posted when/if available.

News Source: Newser

United Nations: International Women’s Day

Friday, March 7, 2014

Hillary Rodham Clinton made a speech to the United Nations in New York on Friday for International Women’s Day. Since leaving the State Department, Clinton has focused on the rights of girls and women in the United States and abroad. She took the opportunity to promote gender equality. During her speech, she said, “When women succeed the world succeeds. When women and girls thrive, entire societies thrive.”

The video above is of the entire speech. A full video will be posted once available.

Video Source: YouTube

New Source: New York Daily News

On Syria

Monday, September 9, 2013

Hillary Rodham Clinton voiced her support of President Barack Obama’s plan to use military force against Syria after the United Nations determined that Syria’s military used chemical weapons against its own citizens.

Video Source: YouTube

News Source: CNN