Bill Clinton joked Wednesday at a campaign event in Las Vegas about his wife’s private email setup during her time as secretary of state and called her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, a "smart girl" for not using email during her time at the State Department.
The former president joked that the scandal surrounding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server "was the biggest problem since the end of World War II."
"We know that what Hillary said about talking to Secretary [Colin] Powell about it was true. Finally, can you believe it, they waited so long to release that email," Clinton said. "And we know that Secretary Rice didn’t do emails, ‘smart girl.’"
Colin Powell did not have a private email server while he was secretary of state, but he used a private email account on a personal computer that was hooked up to a private phone line, ABC News reported. He used an AOL email address to communicate with friends and world leaders.
Clinton had emailed Powell about how he got around using a Blackberry within the State Department. Powell replied that he did not have a Blackberry. Clinton had also emailed Powell a year into her tenure after using a private server during that time.
Rice did not use a personal email for work and in general did not email frequently, the Washington Post reported.
Clinton has cancelled her recent campaign events for the first half of the week while she recovers from pneumonia.