NBC's Chuck Todd pressed Hillary Clinton on Sunday on her poor record of transparency and the FBI investigation into her private server at the State Department.
Todd read out an excerpt of an editorial from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which excoriated Clinton for her "horrible track record on transparency" and encouraged voters not to forget that when they voted in the Democratic primary on Tuesday:
Her horrible track record on transparency raises serious concerns for open government under a Clinton administration — so serious we believe they may disqualify her from public office. We hope Wisconsin voters give this issue the consideration it deserves when they go to the polls on Tuesday.
The issue immediately at hand — and under investigation by the FBI — is Clinton's use of a private email server for State Department communications. Clinton may have violated national security laws by making top secret documents vulnerable to hackers and available to people without proper security clearance. Violating those laws rightly ended the public service career of Gen. David Petraeus when he was President Barack Obama's CIA director. The FBI and Justice Department must be free to fully investigate and, if warranted, prosecute Clinton in this matter without any political interference from the Obama administration.
In addition, regardless of Clinton's excuses, the only believable reason for the private server in her basement was to keep her emails out of the public eye by willfully avoiding freedom of information laws. No president, no secretary of state, no public official at any level is above the law. She chose to ignore it, and must face the consequences.
"This issue of secrecy or the accusation that you're secretive has followed you for quite some time," Todd said. "Is there any way you think you can at least convince Wisconsin voters that's not the case?"
"Well, it's just a wrong set of assertions and conclusions, and as you may know, I've received the vast majority of newspaper endorsements," Clinton said. "They all have the same information ... So let me just say again, I sent emails to government employees on their government accounts. I had every reason to believe that they were in the government system. It was a matter of convenience. I've said repeatedly it was not the best choice. It was a mistake, but I think that anybody who's actually looked at this has concluded that I have now put out all of my emails."
Clinton deleted 30,000 emails she deemed of a personal nature from the server, however, and questions remain about her potential mishandling of classified information. Reports last week indicated Clinton will be interviewed soon by the FBI as it concludes its investigation and weighs any criminal charges.
"Has the FBI reached out to you yet for an interview?" Todd asked.
"No, no, they haven't," Clinton said. "Back in August, we made clear that I'm happy to answer any questions that anybody might have, and I stand by that."
"Are you concerned that this isn't going to wrap up before the convention?" Todd asked.
"No, I'm not, because I don't think anything inappropriate was done," she said. "I have to let them decide how to resolve their security inquiry, but I'm not at all worried about it."