--- description: Obama didn't know about Hillary Clinton's use of a private email address for official business, the President said Saturday. title: Did Obama Know About Clinton Emails? President Says He Didn't image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt12d4f977a51e24ad/6987820c55a8592edca86230/hillary-clinton-emails.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [White House](/tag/white-house/) ## White House Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Obama Says He Learned About Clinton Emails When Everyone Else Did ## Video: Know Right Now: Clinton's Private Emails [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: Clinton's Private Emails](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JMnBWhXy.m3u8) (1:05)  _Published 2015-03-05. Hillary Clinton recently came under fire for using a private server for her email during her time as Secretary of State_  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Mar 8, 2015 2:46 PM CUT  Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the the 30th Anniversary National Conference of Emily's List in Washington on March 3, 2015. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the the 30th Anniversary National Conference of Emily's List in Washington on March 3, 2015.Brooks Kraft—Corbis  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Mar 8, 2015 2:46 PM CUT President Barack Obama didn’t know about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email address for official business before a Monday New York _Times_ [report](http://time.com/3729583/hillary-clinton-personal-email-secretary-of-state/ "undefined"), the President said Saturday. Asked [by CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-weighs-in-hillary-clinton-private-emails/ "undefined") when he had learned of Clinton’s email setup, Obama replied, “The same time everybody else learned it through news reports.” Clinton sent emails for both business and personal purposes from an address on a private server throughout the four years she was U.S. Secretary of State, the _Times_ reported last week. She has since turned over tens of thousands of emails to be archived as public record. The White House [said Friday](http://time.com/3735808/hillary-clinton-emails-other-cabinet-officials/ "undefined") that all current Cabinet members now use official email addresses for business. “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,” Obama told CBS. “I’m glad that Hillary’s instructed that those emails about official business need to be disclosed.” Former President Bill Clinton declined to address the issue when asked at an event in Miami, according to a TIME reporter there: > [](https://twitter.com/Sam%5FFrizell/status/574576238901264384) \[[_CBS_](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-weighs-in-hillary-clinton-private-emails/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3736534/obama-clinton-emails/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3736534/obama-clinton-emails/"},"headline":"Obama Says He Learned About Clinton Emails When Everyone Else Did","datePublished":"2015-03-08T14:46:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:59:45.500Z","description":"President says he had no idea about Hillary's email setup until he heard it on the news","url":"https://time.com/3736534/obama-clinton-emails/","keywords":["White House","2016 Election topic","Barack Obama","Obama","2016","Clinton"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt12d4f977a51e24ad/6987820c55a8592edca86230/hillary-clinton-emails.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt12d4f977a51e24ad/6987820c55a8592edca86230/hillary-clinton-emails.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hilllary Clinton Speaks at Emily's List Conference","caption":"Hilllary Clinton Speaks at Emily's List Conference","creditText":"Brooks Kraft—Corbis","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3736534/obama-clinton-emails/","name":"Obama Says He Learned About Clinton Emails When Everyone Else Did"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: Clinton's Private Emails","description":"Hillary Clinton recently came under fire for using a private server for her email during her time as Secretary of State","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/JMnBWhXy/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-03-05T18:45:32.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JMnBWhXy.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3736534/obama-clinton-emails/","duration":"PT1M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3736534/obama-clinton-emails/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```