Obama: Hillary Clinton Email Controversy ‘Legitimate’

Olivier Douliery/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images/Charlie Neibergall
Olivier Douliery/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images/Charlie Neibergall

President Obama refused to stand up to defend Hillary Clinton as his former Secretary of State continues to twist in the wind over questions about her private email server.

Obama turned down opportunities from interviewer Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes to defend Clinton, instead describing the controversy as “legitimate.”

“This is one of those issues that I think is legitimate,” Obama said, before weakly adding that it was “an indication that we’re in presidential political season.”

In recent weeks, the Clinton campaign has tried to paint Republican-led investigation as a partisan witch-hunt and not the result of serious wrongdoing.

When Kroft asked if he agreed with Clinton whether or not the email scandal was a big deal, Obama replied, “Well, I’m not going to comment” and encouraged Clinton to answer questions about her email “to the satisfaction of the American public.”

“You know, she made a mistake. She has acknowledged it,” he admitted.

He added lightly that he didn’t believe that she was trying to purposefully hide information or put national security in danger.

“I’m going to leave it to Hillary when she has an interview with you to address all these questions,” he finally concluded with a smile.

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