One week after it was revealed that she exclusively used personal email to handle official business when she was Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton will discuss the arrangement in New York today. The revelations raised questions both about the practice's legality and its effect on federal archiving.
Instead of using an official account, Clinton routed her email through a server in her house in New York, leading to a flurry of questions and criticism. Clinton is presumed to be planning a 2016 presidential run; she has not officially announced her intentions.
Clinton will speak after an appearance at the U.N. early Tuesday afternoon; NPR's Tamara Keith reports the move follows "a week of bad press and virtual silence from Clinton."
Days after the news of her private email account emerged, Clinton said on Twitter that she had asked the State Department to release her emails to the public. As we noted, "In January, Clinton reportedly provided some 55,000 pages of emails to the State Department, after her advisers reviewed them."
As Tamara notes, "many questions remain, including: why she would use a private address while part of the Obama administration; whether there are e-mails she didn't turn over and what they were about; and whether her private account was secure from hacking."
Together with questions about the fundraising practices of the Clinton Foundation, the issue has Democrats "freaking out," NPR's Mara Liasson reports for It's All Politics. Of particular concern for her party, Mara says, is that when it comes to a presidential run, after Clinton, "There's no Plan B."
The story has also put new scrutiny on how and why key U.S. leaders would avoid using official communication systems. As we reported last week, other members of the Obama administration's Cabinet have also had their email habits questioned.
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