Hillary Clinton said Friday that she was "relieved and glad" that the FBI investigation into her private email use was over, but the presumptive Democratic nominee declined to say whether she would cooperate with the State Department's reopening of their inquiry.
"I greatly appreciate the work that the FBI and the Department of Justice did — and they handled it very professionally," Clinton told
Wolf Blitzer on CNN. "I have said many times, and I repeat clearly today, it was a mistake for me to use personal e-mail and I regret that.
"I am certainly relieved and glad that the investigation has concluded.
"But I also know how important it is to make sure everybody understands that I would certainly not do that again," Clinton told Blitzer. "That is something that, at the time, as even director Comey said, seemed like a convenience — but it was the wrong choice."
The comments marked Clinton's first since FBI Director James Comey said Tuesday that he would not recommend criminal charges in the email probe and since Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced Wednesday that she was closing the investigation without charging the former secretary of state or her staff.
Comey said, however, that Clinton was
"extremely careless" in using the private server during her four years as the nation's top diplomat.
Clinton declined to say whether she agreed with the FBI director's conclusion.
"I think the director clarified that comment to some extent, pointing out some of what had been thought to be classified apparently was not," she told Blitzer. "The State Department also made that clear."
She noted that she communicated with about 300 people by email during her tenure.
"They, I believe, did not believe they were sending any material that was classified," she said. "I do not think they were careless."
When Blitzer asked whether Clinton "should have known better" — given the classified nature of the material contained in the emails — she said: "I just believe that the material that was being communicated by professionals, many with years of handling sensitive classified material, they did not believe that it was.
"I did not have a basis for second-guessing their conclusion."
Clinton also declined to say whether she would aid the State Department in its new investigation of her emails. The agency said Thursday that
it was reopening its inquiry.
"I assume they will pursue whatever process they think is appropriate, and I also assume they will pay very close attention to what the findings were of the Justice Department investigation," Clinton said.
When Blitzer pressed further, the former first lady responded that "there was a Justice Department investigation going on at the time.
"And, of course, I fully cooperated with that."
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