Former President Bill Clinton jokes he doesn't use email much because people say "embarrassing things on email" – a touchy subject as wife Hillary Clinton battles controversy for using a private email server while serving as secretary of state.
"The only time I got on the Internet I did two emails and I ordered Christmas presents from a reservation," Clinton said at a panel discussion at a Clinton Global Initiative event in Denver on Wednesday,
The Hill reports.
"Otherwise I've found people said embarrassing things on email. I didn't want to be one of them."
Hillary Clinton, a Democratic candidate for president in 2016 – stirring controversy with revelations that she conducted State Department business on her
private email server – destroyed correspondence she determined was private and turned over the rest to the State Department.
"The server contains personal communications from my husband and me," she said
in March.
The former president also elicited some laughs at the Denver event after Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made a reference to the value of various crops, and then a veiled reference to the high return for marijuana, which is now legal in Colorado,
Politico reports.
"Now with the exception of the state of Colorado and a few other states that legalized another product, there are not many commodities you can plant," Vilsack said.
"Dear Lord," Clinton responded. "That's all I need. One more story. If only the marijuana growers would invite me to give a speech."
But the gregarious former president became serious when talk turned to his global charity, and to his highly paid speeches; both Clintons have come under fire for making millions of dollars in speaking fees since they left the White House.
Bloomberg reports Clinton said he'd consider stepping aside from leading his global philanthropy if his wife is elected president, but intends to keep delivering speeches though he'll stop accepting money from them.
And he vigorously defended donations that have been tied to foreign governments and corporations, particularly the decision to accept $500,000 from Algeria to pass on to international efforts in Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake.
"I'd take the money from Algeria again," Clinton tells Bloomberg. "There are very few countries in the world I would not accept for help to Haiti."
Clinton added there were a couple of donations the foundation did not accept because "we have a strict no-corruption policy."
The initiative has been criticized as allowing foreign countries and businesses to curry favor with the Clinton family during Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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