State Department file photo
Hillary Clinton Is ‘Glad’ About Benghazi Email Release
But the newly public emails were far from Clinton’s top priority Friday.
While political reporters were atwitter discussing the newly disclosed trove of Hillary Clinton's emails (or their frustrations about accessing them), Clinton's focus was entirely elsewhere.
After taking a tour of Smuttynose Brewing in Hampton, New Hampshire on Friday, Clinton sat down with local entrepreneurs and investors to talk about her plan to rebuild the middle class, and heralding the Export-Import Bank as a "vital lifeline" for small businesses.
"It's time again that we make the words 'middle class' actually mean something in this country," Clinton told the assembled crowd in the Smuttynose factory, lined with stacks of kegs.
She also detailed "four big challenges" she wants to address with her presidential campaign: reinvigorating the economy, strengthening families and communities, fixing a "dysfunctional" political system, and dealing with global threats.
After her discussion with the New Hampshire business leaders, Clinton briefly addressed the press on the publication of roughly 300 emails concerning the 2012 attack on Benghazi, Libya. She said she was "glad" the emails were released, and that her emails were handled "appropriately" during her time as secretary of State, according to the The Wall Street Journal.
Almost immediately after the State Department released the emails, Clinton-allied groups such as Correct the Record and Media Matters for America sent out statements arguing that the new emails prove there is no need for the House of Representatives to continue its investigation into the Benghazi attack.
"The record shows that Secretary Clinton took responsibility for the tragedy in Benghazi; she took action to ensure that such attacks don't happen again; and she's been fully transparent throughout," Correct the Record President Brad Woodhouse said in a statement.
As reporters continue to comb through the heavily redacted emails, they may be left wanting just a little more transparency than Clinton and the State Department has been willing to give.