Hillary Clinton Does Not Acknowledge Email Controversy During NYC Event
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Hillary Clinton took to the stage in New York City on Monday to discuss gender equality and stuck to her prepared script like glue.
She made no mention of the email controversy swirling around her, as others, including the White House, weighed in, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported.
Clinton is one of the most disciplined politicians Kramer said she's ever seen, so even though there were dozens of reporters on hand, each hoping she would break her silence on what is now becoming "email-gate," they were disappointed.
It was as if Clinton was saying "email controversy? What email controversy?"
"There has never been a better time in history to be born female," Clinton said during her Clinton Foundation event.
Clinton set out to look regale. Presidential was clearly a look she was going for as she is set to possibly launch a presidential campaign next month. Her goal has been to ignore the email scandal and refocus attention on her record as a woman's advocate.
"Progress is possible," Clinton said.
But while Clinton was silent, others were talking a blue streak about her decision to use a private email account to conduct all her government business as secretary of state from a server at her Chappaqua, N.Y., home.
President Barack Obama's spokesman, Josh Earnest, was forced to admit that even his boss traded emails with Clinton from her private account.
"But he was not aware of the details of how that email address and that server had been set up, or how Secretary Clinton and her team were planning to comply with the Federal Records Act," Earnest said.
Clinton has yet to publicly answer questions about email-gate.
The head of the committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi, Libya, attacks said Clinton has not been forthcoming with all of her emails relating to Libya.
"There are gaps of months and months and months," said Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina. "And if you think to that iconic picture of her on a C-17 flying to Libya, she has sunglasses on and she has her handheld device in her hand. We have no emails from that day. In fact, we have no emails from that trip."
Democrats point out that the trip to Libya happened a year before the attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi in which Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other people were killed
Clinton has turned over 300 emails so far.
While political insiders are following the play-by-play, it remains to be seen what impact the email controversy will have on voters if the former first lady and New York senator enters the presidential race.
"Usually, you try to put out fires before a campaign, so you can have a clean launch. You don't set fires on the launchpad," said John Dickerson, CBS News political director.
Even Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California has joined the calls urging Clinton to share more details about the private email account.
Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Feinstein said Clinton "needs to step up and come out and say exactly what the situation was," adding that from "this point on, the silence is going to hurt her."
The State Department is reviewing 55,000 pages of emails Clinton handed over, but it could take weeks or months to go through the documents to delete sensitive material before the public can see them, Kramer reported.