File photo: Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (Agence France-Presse)
Hillary Clinton refused to say she was sorry today for using a private email account while secretary of state, although she apologised for the confusion and insisted her actions were "fully above board."
Clinton has long dismissed the email uproar as a manufactured imbroglio. Faced with eroding support, the Democratic presidential frontrunner sought to get out ahead of the crisis that has dogged her campaign, offering the most comprehensive public remarks yet about her emails.
But asked directly by MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell in a lengthy sit-down interview whether she wanted to apologize to the American people for her choices, Clinton demurred.
"It wasn't the best choice," she answered. "I will continue to say that, as I've also said many times it was allowed and it was fully above board."
The interview was only her third on television since the launch of her campaign in April, far fewer than just about all of her Democratic and Republican rivals.
Clinton knows that journalists following her Friday to the US island territory of Puerto Rico are less concerned, for now, with the candidate's detailed proposals to improve the economy or fight climate change.
It is her use of a private email account and home server in lieu of the official government email system while she served as top diplomat from 2009 to 2013 that is dominating the Clinton news cycle.
The Department of State, to which Clinton turned over 30,000 official emails in late 2014, has publicly released thousands of them in the interests of transparency.
Many contain information that has been retroactively classified, raising questions about whether Clinton was inappropriately sending and receiving highly sensitive material, and whether sufficient security measures were in place to protect her server from hackers.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is examining the server to determine whether the arrangement has compromised secret government data.
"At the end of the day I am sorry that this has been confusing to people and has raised a lot of questions," Clinton told MSNBC.
"But there are answers to all of these questions and I will continue to provide those answers."
Didn't 'stop and think'
Asked if she was concerned that polls show many Americans distrust her, Clinton said "it certainly doesn't make me feel good.
"But I am very confident that by the time this campaign has run its course people will know that what I've been saying is accurate."
In a revelatory moment, Clinton admitted that in the whirlwind start to her tenure at State, there was little thought to how she would conduct her electronic communications.
"We had so many problems around the world," she recalled. "I didn't really stop and think, what kind of e-mail system will there be."
Three committees in Congress, which is controlled by Republicans, have launched aggressive investigations and have called on Clinton employees to testify, including her advisor Jake Sullivan today and her longtime adviser and lawyer Cheryl Mills yesterday.
Clinton herself testifies before a House panel on October 22, nine days after the first televised Democratic primary debate.
In March, as the scandal emerged, Clinton played down the hacking risk, assuring Americans that no classified information had been transmitted via her email account.
But as the controversy deepened, warning signs emerged in New Hampshire, where her approval rating has slid and polls show liberal Senator Bernie Sanders running neck and neck against her.
The state holds the second nominating contest in the nation, after Iowa, and a victory there could help pave her path to the nomination.
Clinton had been the frontrunner in 2008 against then-senator Barack Obama. Asked if she was worried that a similar opportunity could now be slipping through her fingers, Clinton was firm.
"I don't feel that," she said.
While she acknowledged public "skepticism about politics, even cynicism," Clinton said she would "keep making the case" for her presidency.
Adding to Clinton's concerns is Vice President Joe Biden, who has begun publicly discussing the prospects of jumping into the race.
"The most relevant factor in my decision is whether my family and I have the emotional energy to run," Biden, who lost his son Beau to cancer in May, said yesterday.