--- title: Democratic Debate: Hillary Clinton Downplays Email Scandal description: Here's how Hillary Clinton responded at the Democratic debate when she was asked again about her email scandal. canonical: https://time.com/4208979/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-email-scandal/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-05T03:57:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:38.390Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's How Hillary Clinton Downplayed Her Email Scandal og:description: "That was a political ploy," she said og:url: https://time.com/4208979/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-email-scandal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte12b4c73c9f6177b/69887c3bcf40a88be1c41d1e/timepol-democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-06.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL Hillary Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Hillary Clinton Downplayed Her Email Scandal twitter:description: "That was a political ploy," she said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte12b4c73c9f6177b/69887c3bcf40a88be1c41d1e/timepol-democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-06.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Hillary Clinton Downplayed Her Email Scandal at the Democratic Debate ## Video: Best Split Screen Moments From The Fifth Democratic Debate [Watch (HLS stream): Best Split Screen Moments From The Fifth Democratic Debate](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/a5OpVU9Y.m3u8) (3:32)  _Published 2016-02-05. The best split screen moments between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 5, 2016 3:57 AM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during a debate with Senator Bernie Sanders at the University of New Hampshire on Feb. 4, 2016, in Durham, N.H. Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during a debate with Senator Bernie Sanders at the University of New Hampshire on Feb. 4, 2016, in Durham, N.H.David Goldman—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 5, 2016 3:57 AM UTC Even at the fifth Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton’s [email scandal](http://time.com/4200447/clinton-emails-state-department-top-secret/) continues to trail her. MSNBC moderator Chuck Todd asked the former Secretary of State whether she would ever be able to put the issue of her private email server to rest. First, Clinton said she could assure voters the issue would be resolved because it is just a political game by Republicans. “Before it was emails it was Benghazi,” she said. “And the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I [testified for 11 hours](http://time.com/4084578/benghazi-hearing-hillary-clinton-analysis/), answered their questions, and they basically said, ‘Yep, didn’t get her, we tried.’ That was a political ploy.” Then Clinton said she was not the only person in her position to use a private email server. “We had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to former Secretary Rice [used private email accounts](http://time.com/4208791/clinton-emails-powell-rice/),” she said. “I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell who said today this is an absurdity… I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever.” Finally, when Todd asked her if she was 100% confident the FBI investigation into the matter wouldn’t yield anything, she blamed the system for classifying material. “I am 100% confident,” she said. “This is a security review that was requested, it is being carried out, it will be resolved. But I have to add, if there’s going to be a security review about me, there’s going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we’ve got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this just beggars the imagination.” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders reiterated that he would not attack Clinton on this issue, after he [famously said](http://time.com/4072613/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-email/) at an October debate, “The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4208979/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-email-scandal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4208979/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-email-scandal/"},"headline":"Here's How Hillary Clinton Downplayed Her Email Scandal at the Democratic Debate","datePublished":"2016-02-05T03:57:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:04:38.390Z","description":"\"That was a political ploy\"","url":"https://time.com/4208979/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-email-scandal/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte12b4c73c9f6177b/69887c3bcf40a88be1c41d1e/timepol-democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-06.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte12b4c73c9f6177b/69887c3bcf40a88be1c41d1e/timepol-democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-06.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIMEPOL Hillary Clinton","caption":"Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during a debate with U.S. Sen. 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