Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told Fox News Channel Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry she thought he was “entitled to” ask only one question at a press conference at Friday.
Henry asked, “Secretary Clinton, I wonder if you could answer a couple of questions. One would be, were you aware that — thank you. Were you aware that your husband wanted to give paid speeches to oppressive regimes like North Korea? Do you have any comment on these new emails that have raised questions about conflicts of interest involving your aide Huma Abedin. And finally, I wonder, if — you said there’s nothing unique about this situation. You’ve said that before. Can you name one other cabinet secretary who had their own server?”
Hillary answered, “Well, let me answer one of your questions because I think that’s what you are entitled to.”
She continued, “And the first question that you asked, about the process that was set up, in my years as secretary of state, was for any request that my husband received, to be sent to the state department, to be vetted. So, it didn’t matter where it was coming from. It was going to go to the State Department. And there were some unusual requests, but they all went through the process, to try to make sure that the State Department conducted its independent review. He did neither of those speeches. But, Ed, I will say this. You might not recall, but President Obama sent my husband to North Korea, to rescue the two journalists who had been captured. This was after a painstaking negotiation, to try to convince the North Korean leader to release these two young women. And every offer we made, every diplomatic overture we made was rebuffed, and then finally — and we offered many people to go. We said, ‘What about this person? What about that person?’ All of them were rebuffed. And then finally the North Koreans said, ‘If Bill Clinton comes, we’ll give him the two journalists.’ We thought about it. Obviously, the president, and I, and others analyzed it. We wanted those young women home, and we said okay. I tell you that because that was a successful mission, that accomplished its purpose. Now, I think it’s beyond unlikely that the State Department, not involving me, but that the State Department would say, ‘You know, we think it’s a good idea for you to go back, and see what more you can find out, see what you can pick up.’ Now, in the end, that was not something my husband wanted to do, and it was not something that the State Department wanted him to do. It never happened. But I’m just telling you we had a process, so that all of these requests would be vetted. It would be highly unlikely that it would be a positive response, ‘Yes, we want you to go.’ But not totally beyond the realm of possibility. So, you know, that’s the way we did it. We tried to really be as careful and thoughtful in that process, and this is another example of how it worked.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett