Obama refused to defend Hillary Clinton as his former Secretary of State continues to twist in the wind over 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.”
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.”
Mr. Obama called those questions legitimate and said — without directing the comments specifically at Mrs. Clinton — that public officials in high office should know better.
“As a general proposition, when we’re in these offices, we have to be more sensitive and stay as far away from the line as possible when it comes to how we handle information, how we handle our own personal data,” Mr. Obama said. “And, you know, she made a mistake. She has acknowledged it.
“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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