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Clinton: I Did Exactly What I Should Have Done With Classified Information

September 7, 2016

Hillary Clinton said that she did exactly what she should have done with classified information during Wednesday night's Commander in Chief Forum on MSNBC after being confronted by a veteran who said she "corrupted our national security."

"So, I did exactly what I should have done and I take it very seriously," she said. "Always have, always will."

To prompt this, Lt. John Lester shared his background with the crowd. He said that he also had to handle very sensitive information during his tenure in the military.

He then asked how the American people can trust Clinton when she "clearly corrupted our national security."

"Secretary Clinton, thank you very much for coming tonight," he said. "As a naval flight officer, I held a top-secret, sensitive, compartmentalized clearance and that provided me access to materials and information highly sensitive to our war-fighting capabilities. Had I communicated this information not following prescribed protocols, I would have been prosecuted and imprisoned. Secretary Clinton, how can you expect those such as myself, who were and are entrusted with America's most sensitive information, to have any confidence in your leadership as president when you clearly corrupted our national security?"

Clinton told him that there was no header on the email designating it as sensitive information. She stressed that this was not disputed.

"I communicated about classified material on wholly separate system," she said. "I took it very seriously. When I traveled, I went into one of those little tents that I'm sure you've seen around the world, because we didn't want there to be any potential for someone to have embedded a camera to try to see whatever it is that I was seeing that was designated, marked, and headed as classified."

She then ended with saying that, in light of this, she did exactly what she should have done when handling the emails that she sent and received.

"So I did exactly what I should have done and I take it very seriously, always have, always will," she said.