Former president Bill Clinton went to bat for his embattled wife, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria set to air Sunday, saying that Republicans and media members had enacted a "full-scale frontal assault" on her for various reasons over "this email thing."
Clinton, while still the frontrunner to capture the Democratic nomination, has suffered in the polls as details about her private email server at the State Department have come to light. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) has mounted a sturdy challenge and leads her by 16 points in New Hampshire, and Vice President Joe Biden could still jump into the fray and potentially create a three-way horse race.
Clinton's trustworthiness numbers have suffered, and her favorability rating nationwide is underwater.
Her husband, however, shrugged off the saga.
"I think it'll be all right, but it's obvious what happened," Clinton said. "You know, at the beginning of the year, she was the most admired person in public life ... There are lots of people who wanted there to be a race for different reasons, and they thought the only way they could make it a race was a full-scale frontal assault on her, and so this email thing became the biggest story in the world."
Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley have called on the Democratic National Committee to hold more debates, with many complaining the process has been rigged to ensure Clinton doesn't lose her top spots in the polls.
Clinton also said the Republican Party didn't want to run against her on the issues, the New York Times reports:
"I have never seen so much expended on so little," Mr. Clinton said in a taped interview with Fareed Zakaria that is scheduled to be shown Sunday on CNN. The network released excerpts on Saturday afternoon.
"She said she was sorry that her personal email caused all this confusion," Mr. Clinton said. "And she’d like to give the election back to the American people. I think it will be all right. But it’s obvious what happened."
Mr. Clinton likened the current inquiries into Mrs. Clinton’s emails to scandals as far back as the Whitewater land deal that plagued his 1992 campaign and his administration.
"This is just something that has been a regular feature of all of our presidential campaigns, except in 2008 for unique reasons," Mr. Clinton said, without elaborating on why he believed that President Obama had not faced similar Republican-led efforts to derail his candidacy.
"It always happens," he added. "We’re seeing history repeat itself."