Hillary Clinton still silent on emails
Hillary Rodham Clinton made no mention of emails Monday at an event highlighting her work for women and girls' rights around the world.The event, held in a theater in New York City, revealed the findings of a study on the status of women around the world, launched by Clinton's family foundation.
It was her third public appearance since the New York Times first reported that the former Secretary of State relied on a private email address during her time in office -- and the third opportunity for her to comment.
Since last week, prominent Republicans and Democrats alike have demanded a response, and a review of both the practice of using private email and the emails themselves. In an interview over the weekend in Selma, Alabama, President Barack Obama told CBS News' Bill Plante that he learned of Clinton's private email address from news reports. "The policy of my administration is to encourage transparency, which is why my emails, the BlackBerry I carry around, all those records are available and archived," Mr. Obama said. "I'm glad that Hillary's instructed that those emails about official business need to be disclosed."
Her only comment so far about her clintonemail.com server has been a single tweet, sent last Wednesday: "I want the public to see my email," it read. "I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible."
The presumed presidential candidate kicked off the event Monday alongside her daughter, Chelsea, and Melinda Gates, whose Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation collaborated with the Clintons to complete the study. Recalling her now-famous 1995 remarks at the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, Clinton said she hoped the study, called "No Ceilings," would inspire the audience to work harder to close the gender gap when it comes to education, the work force and peace building.
Clinton reappeared on stage periodicially during the program but only to introduce featured guests and moderate short discussions on topics like education and climate change. She interjected minimally, keeping the focus on the "advocates and experts" who spoke at the event. She was also silent on the controversy surrounding her foundation's practice of accepting foreign donations, including while Clinton was serving as Secretary.
Bill Clinton, who sat in the audience Monday, defended the foundation Saturday at another event in Coral Gables, Florida promoting "No Ceilings." Comedian Larry Wilmore asked the former president to comment on the criticism.
"What you find is you gotta decide when you do this work," he said, "whether it'll do more good than harm if someone helps you from another country."
Hillary Clinton will speak again about her work on women's rights Tuesday at the United Nations headquarters.