Full Transcript: ABC's David Muir Interviews Hillary Clinton
— -- On Tuesday, September 8, 2015, ABC News' host of "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir interviewed Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The following is a transcript of the interview:
DAVID MUIR: Secretary Clinton, thank you.
HILLARY CLINTON: Thank you, David.
DAVID MUIR: Here we sit, five months into your campaign and there are some eye-opening poll numbers out there, and I'm sure you're aware of them, when it comes to how Americans see you. Our ABC poll, Gallup, Quinnipiac showing your favorability numbers taking a sharp dive.
In one poll, the lowest ever. And when voters were asked, "What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of Hillary Clinton?" Words like liar, dishonest, untrustworthy were at the top of the list. Does this tell you that your original explanation about the private server, that you did it to carry one phone out of convenience, that this didn't sit well with the American people?
HILLARY CLINTON: Well, David, obviously, I don't like hearing that. I am confident by the end of this campaign people will know they can trust me. And that I will be on their side and will fight for them and their families. But I do think I could have and should have done a better job answering questions earlier.
I really didn't perhaps appreciate the need to do that. What I had done was allowed, it was above board. But in retrospect, certainly, as I look back at it now, even though it was allowed, I should've used two accounts. One for personal, one for work-related emails.
That was a mistake. I'm sorry about that. I take responsibility. And I'm trying to be as transparent as I possibly can to not only release 55,000 pages of my emails, turn over my server. But I am looking forward, finally, to testifying before Congress. Something I've been asking for nearly a year.
DAVID MUIR: You have said you would apologize for the confusion but not say, "I'm sorry." But I did hear a word in there just a moment ago and I'm curious. Would you acknowledge that you made a mistake here? Because you wrote in your own memoir last year just how important using the word mistake is in politics. You, you wrote, "In our political culture, saying you made a mistake is often taken as weakness when in fact it can be a sign of strength and growth." And so as you sit here, millions watching tonight, did you make a mistake?
HILLARY CLINTON: I did. I did. As I said, it was allowed and there was no hiding it. It was totally above board. Everybody in the government I communicated with -- and that was a lot of people-- knew I was using a personal e-mail. But I'm sorry that it has, you know, raised all of these questions. I do take responsibility for having made what is clearly not the best decision. And I want people to know that I am trying to be as transparent as possible so that, you know, legitimate questions can and will be answered.
DAVID MUIR: You mentioned everybody in the government knew that you were using this private server. It-- did fellow members of the cabinet know? Did the president know?
HILLARY CLINTON: Everyone I emailed with, and I'm not going to go into names, but let me say I emailed with many people in the White House and the rest of the government, of course, across the State Department, knew that I was emailing from a personal account.
