America
Clinton declines to apologise for nagging email controversy
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By Arun KumarWashington, Sep 8 (IANS) Even as a special
intelligence review revealed that some emails on Hillary Clinton's
personal account contained highly classified information, the Democratic
frontrunner declined to apologise for the controversy saying what she
did was allowed.
The review endorsed a finding by the inspector
general for the intelligence agencies that a couple of emails contained
highly classified information when Clinton received them while working
as secretary of state, the New York Times reported citing senior
intelligence officials.
Clinton's presidential campaign disagreed
with the conclusion of the intelligence review and suggested that
agencies within the government often have different views of what should
be considered classified, the Times said.
The intelligence
review added more fuel to the controversy surrounding Clinton's use of
only a private email account for official business that has pulled down
her poll numbers in key states and raised questions about her
trustworthiness.
Clinton has said that her emails contained no
information that was marked classified and that she is fully cooperating
with an FBI investigation into how classified materials were handled on
her personal email account.
Campaigning in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Clinton insisted in an interview with AP that she doesn't need to
apologise for her nagging email controversy because "what I did was
allowed."
"(The email controversy) hasn't in any way affected the
plan for our campaign, the efforts we're making to organize here in
Iowa and elsewhere in the country," Clinton said.
"And I still feel very confident about the organization and the message that my campaign is putting out."
Republican
presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina Monday accused Clinton of lying on
the email controversy and predicted that the Democrat would soon will
renew gender-based attacks on Republicans.
"The truth is Clinton
has lied as secretary of state about Benghazi, about her emails, about
her server," Fiorina said on Fox News.
"And so when she revives this 'war on women' -- and make no mistake she will -- this is her go-to line."
"First
of all, boo hoo, Clinton," former HP CEO said when asked about
Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders' rise in the
polls and talk of her reviving the "war on women" attack on Republicans.
She also asked why Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is not training more of his attacks on Clinton,
"I
actually wish Mr. Trump would throw a little more heat Hillary
Clinton's way," said Fiorina who has gained a strong footing in the
Republican field since the first presidential debate though she is still
trailing Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
Meanwhile, adding to Clinton's headaches were stronger signals that Vice President Joe Biden may join the presidential race.
On
a Labour Day trip to Pittsburgh, Biden, 72, deflected questions about
whether he would indeed jump into the race to challenge Clinton and
Sanders for the Democratic nomination.
But, according to a CNN
report Biden later gently teased a group of steelworkers, saying the
press would portray his visit to Pittsburgh as a sign he was "competing
with Bernie Sanders, who is doing a helluva job by the way."
When a man yelled out he should run for the White House, Biden replied: "You gotta talk to my wife about that."
Small
groups of Sanders supporters held up home made signs and watched Biden
pass, CNN said. But there was no evidence of Clinton backers in the
crowd.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])