--- title: Bill Clinton Says Clinton Email Scandal Is GOP 'Catnip' description: "that is catnip to the people who get bored talking about 'what's your position on student loan relief,'" Clinton says canonical: https://time.com/4051197/bill-clinton-hillary-email-scandal/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-26T19:29:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:32:08.342Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bill Clinton Says Media Is Overhyping Hillary Email Scandal og:description: "that is catnip to the people who get bored talking about 'what's your position on student loan relief,'" Clinton says og:url: https://time.com/4051197/bill-clinton-hillary-email-scandal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc3a07790a432ce9/698865b00a4a2205409c6479/bill-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Starkey Hearing Foundation 2015 So The World May Hear Gala og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bill Clinton Says Media Is Overhyping Hillary Email Scandal twitter:description: "that is catnip to the people who get bored talking about 'what's your position on student loan relief,'" Clinton says twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc3a07790a432ce9/698865b00a4a2205409c6479/bill-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bill Clinton Says Media Is Overhyping Hillary Email Scandal > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=851a7fb0-ce39-4eb5-a1ee-482039156baf&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Email Chain Brings Up Questions Over Clinton's Server [Watch (HLS stream): Email Chain Brings Up Questions Over Clinton's Server](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YSU0sl70.m3u8) (1:15)  _Published 2015-09-26. Email Chain Brings Up Questions Over Clinton's Server_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 26, 2015 7:29 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 26, 2015 7:29 PM UTC Former President Bill Clinton called the controversy surrounding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email address and server while in office “[catnip](http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/25/politics/bill-clinton-fareed-zakaria-donald-trump-interview/)” for Republicans in an interview released Saturday. “The other party doesn’t want to run against her and if they do they want her as mangled up as possible,” Clinton told [CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/25/politics/bill-clinton-fareed-zakaria-donald-trump-interview/)‘s Fareed Zakaria. “They know that if they leak things and say things they know that that is catnip to the people who get bored talking about ‘what’s your position on student loan relief.'” Clinton told Zakaria that the scandals surrounding his wife, who is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for President, is reminiscent of trouble he faced when he sought the nomination in 1991\. Clinton said when he ran, the George H.W. Bush administration reached out to warn him not to seek the Presidency. “The press has to have somebody every election—we’re going to give them you. You better not run,” he said they told him. The 42nd president went on to praise some members of the media for trying to debunk the controversy surrounding his wife. “There have been a shocking number of really reputable press people who have explained how you can’t receive or transmit classified information, how the government has no central authority for classification and that Defense, State and the intelligence agencies have their own,” Clinton said. The full interview will air [Sunday at 10a.m](http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/25/politics/bill-clinton-fareed-zakaria-donald-trump-interview/). ## Transcript The latest batch of Hilary Clinton's emails aren't even out, and there's already some more controversy. This latest ding for Clinton is the discovery of an exchange with David Petraeus, who was in charge of the US Central Command at the time. While the content of the emails is relatively mundane enough, [ MUSIC ] CNN reports that it was simply Petraeus and Clinton getting to know each other, the problem here is with timing. Clinton's camp says she only started using her private email server, HDR22 @ clintonemail. com in March 2009. Before that she used an account she no longer has access to. She's also, under oath, that she's given up all of her work related emails during her time as Secretary of State, but this email chain was from January 10, 2009 to February 1, 2009 and some of her later emails when her HDR22Clinton email account. For some this Could make her March 2009 claim slightly more murky. The revelation likely won't help Clinton's campaign, which has been dogged by her email. That was a mistake, I'm sorry about that, I take responsiblity. I'm trying to be as transparent as I possibly can. Her Press Secretary Brian Fallen responded to the news saying we always said the emails given to State dated back only to March '09. That was when she started using clintonemail. com. 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