Hillary Clinton just ended a four-week streak of not talking to reporters.
In a brief stop in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Tuesday, the former Secretary of State briefly answered questions about a review of her emails and her correspondence with confidant Sidney Blumenthal about Libya.
“I want those emails out. Nobody has a bigger interest in getting those out than me,” she told reporters. “I want the American people to learn as much as we can about the work that I did with our diplomats and development experts … My emails are at the heart of that.”
It was the first time since April 21 that Clinton had answered a question from the press, when she told reporters that a book about the Clinton Foundation was went “with the terrority” of running for president.
In recent weeks, however, the actual topics of Clinton’s interviews with the press had been eclipsed by her reticence to talk at all. The New York Times began a regular feature publishing questions it would have asked her, while the Washington Post created a clock which showed how long it had been since she last answered questions. NPR even rounded up all 13 questions she’d answered.
Republicans also criticized her silence, with former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina boasting that she had answered hundreds of questions in the same time period.
But it was the press that forced the issue Tuesday. Fox News reporter Ed Henry interrupted as Clinton talked to Iowans at a campaign event, forcing Clinton to say she would “put it on my list for due consideration” before deciding to answer questions.
-With reporting from Sam Frizell, Cedar Falls, IA
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