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After Tweeting It's 'Time to Move on’ from Clinton Emails, Finney Struggles to Answer Questions About Clinton Emails

Jake Tapper didn't get the memo

September 28, 2015

CNN's Jake Tapper apparently didn't get the memo from the Hillary Clinton campaign.

After spokesman Karen Finney and other key Clinton supporters tweeted in unison Sunday that all questions about Clinton's emails had been "asked and answered" and that it was "time to move on," Finney was treated to nothing but email questions Monday from Tapper about new discrepancies in Clinton's explanations for her private server.

In the past week, it has been discovered that Clinton's claim to have begun using her private server in March 2009 was wrong and that she has differing explanations for the role she played in the wiping of her server.

Tapper asked Finney first about the discrepancy in Clinton's rhetoric about her deleted emails. Clinton told NBC's Chuck Todd Sunday she did not participate in the process of sifting through work-related and personal emails but had previously said she was "the official" who made the decisions about which emails were removed.

"Was she involved or not, and can you understand how these mixed messages might be feeding into these trustworthiness issues that she has with voters?" Tapper asked.

Finney's rambling response was difficult to follow.

"I actually think it's consistent because she said we--as she has explained, her lawyers were involved in that process, and she sort of told them--I think and made it clear--I'm sure they were clear about what they were looking for, but I think as she said to Chuck yesterday, she did not want them to feel like she was looking over her shoulder, so in terms of the process--again, I think they were clear about what they were looking for, so much so, quite frankly, as she also has pointed out, the State Department is returning something like 1,200 emails that apparently, that were turned over thinking they might in some way be business-related, and yet the State Department found, 'You know what, those are personal, we're going to send those back to you.'

"So I think with regard to the process--I mean, here's something, though, to this process, Jake. We know that we're going to see more releases of emails from the State Department. We know that there may be other questions raised. We know that other Republicans may choose to do something with some of this. But here's the bottom line. Hillary Clinton has taken responsibility for this. She has apologized. She has turned over her server. And finally, after months of asking for the opportunity to come and speak to Congress, she will be there on the 22nd."

Tapper pointed out she was "forced" to turn over the server, but Finney said Clinton was cooperating. Tapper also asked Finney to square Clinton's claim that she carried one device for "convenience," when she had previously said she carried an iPad, an iPad Mini, an iPhone, and a BlackBerry.

"Karen, it's just a contradiction," Tapper said. "She said she thought it'd be easy to carry one device, and here she is talking about carrying four devices."

Finney replied that Clinton was facing some "pretty big challenges" when she became secretary of state, parroting one of Clinton's own lines about how she wasn't particularly focused on technology at the time.