Debate Exchange Gets Testy With Moderator Over Clinton's emails
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A testy exchange between moderator and candidate pushed the Democratic debate for president into high gear early on at the Miami Dade College stage on Wednesday night.
Moderator Jorge Ramos, who anchors the most popular Spanish language news broadcast in the U.S., Noticiero Univision, unleashed his heaviest-hitting question for Hillary Clinton almost as soon as the debate began.
After what Ramos considered to be dancing by Clinton around her email scandal, the Mexican-born moderator pushed the former Secretary of State about permissions she may have been given to use a personal email account to handle government business.
"The question was, who gave you permission to operate? Was it President Obama," asked Ramos.
Clinton shrugged it off.
"There was no permission to be asked. It had been done by my predecessors. It was permitted. I didn't have to ask anyone," she said.
The email scandal continues to follow Clinton a year after The New York Times broke the story open.
It led to an investigation by the Department of Justice, including earlier this year, when the Obama administration confirmed that 22 "top secret" emails were discovered on Clinton's personal email server.
Clinton has argued that she used the home server out of simple convenience and has always maintained her private use was in compliance with government regulations.
At the debate, Ramos took the opportunity to put it bluntly, asking, "If you get indicted, will you drop out?"
But Clinton's confidence quickly canned the thought.
"Oh for goodness, that is not going to happen. I'm not even answering that question," she shot back.
The FBI has also begun investigating Clinton's email setup but independent experts say it is highly unlikely that Clinton will be charged with wrongdoing.