Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton said Thursday that the Inspector General report slamming her use of a private email server was a vindication of sorts, adding the rules on such practices "were not clarified until after I had left."
In an interview televised on MSNBC, a campaign pool reporter cited likely general election rival Donald Trump's attacks against Clinton over the server.
"He kept saying this was not good," the reporter said. "He called you Crooked Hillary repeatedly. What do you say to that?"
"Well, I think the report is consistent with what I have been saying," Clinton said. "That the use of personal email was a practice by other secretaries of state, and the rules were not clarified until after I had left, and as I've said many times, if I could do it over again, I would have done it differently. But I think it's all out there. Everything that has been reported is in line with what was found in that report."
The IG report that came out Wednesday was scathing, contradicting Clinton's claims that her practice was permitted and criticizing her for not complying with federal records-keeping regulations.
The Washington Free Beacon reports:
Its report directly contradicts claims by the Clinton presidential campaign. "The laws, regulations, and State Department policy in place during her tenure permitted her to use a non-government email for work," the campaign’s website claims.
That is false, according to the IG.
"She did not comply with the Department’s policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act," the report concluded.
The report threatens to revive controversy over Clinton’s exclusive use of a personal email account during her tenure as secretary, an issue that had quieted after the State Department finished releasing copies of emails sent to and from her personal account in February.
According to the IG report, Clinton failed to comply with regulations that require officials to turn over all official records and correspondence when they leave government employment.
"Secretary Clinton should have preserved any Federal records she created and received on her personal account by printing and filing those records with the related files in the Office of the Secretary," the IG wrote.