Hillary Clinton on email row: ‘It was a mistake. I’m sorry’

HILLARY CLINTON has apologised for using a private email server while secretary of state in an attempt to defuse the controversy that has blighted her presidential campaign.

She spoke a day after saying she did not need to say sorry for bypassing the State Department’s email system, claiming “what I did was allowed”.

However, her apology last night marked a dramatic change of tack, having previously dismissed the controversy as a media fixation.

“That was a mistake,” she told a US television news channel. “I’m sorry about that. I take responsibility and I am trying to be as transparent as I can.”

Aides have reportedly been pushing her to acknowledge her mistake and to apologise in clear terms.

Mrs Clinton not only faced attacks from Republican opponents, who even suggested it could be a criminal matter, but has also seen her ratings plummet in the fight to secure the Democrat nomination.

The controversy has led to suggestions that she was trying to hide embarrassing material from her time in office such as details on her handling of the 2012 terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, which claimed the lives of four Americans including the ambassador, Chris Stevens. The email issue is unlikely to go away anytime soon. The Department of State, to which Mrs Clinton turned over 30,000 official emails in late 2014, is publicly releasing them, and the FBI is investigating whether the arrangement compromised government secrets.

Having enjoyed a commanding lead over Bernie Sanders in the key state of New Hampshire, Mrs Clinton is now trailing the independent socialist senator from Vermont by nine points.