A top Hillary Clinton campaign official gave contradictory statements Monday about Clinton’s use of an iPad to send emails as secretary of state.
Hillary for America senior spokeswoman Karen Finney told CNN’s Jake Tapper that Clinton received an iPad as a Christmas present and that she used it to predominantly to read news articles and “not for email.”
But a review of emails Clinton gave to the State Department in December shows that she received her iPad well before the Christmas season in June 2010. The State Department records also show that Clinton used her iPad to send emails. That fact was already known, so it is unclear why Finney made the claim in her interview with Tapper.
“She got the iPad, I think, as a Christmas gift sometime later, and as I understand it, uses that predominantly to read articles and what have you, not for email,” Finney said.
On June 25, 2010, Philippe Reines, a top Clinton aide, sent her an email announcing the arrival of her “hPad.”
“That is exciting news — do you think you can teach me to use it on the flight to Kyev next week?” Clinton replied.
During her interview on Monday, Finney was responding to Tapper’s question about an apparent contradiction between Clinton’s claim that she exclusively used a personal email account maintained on one device for convenience and a statement she made in February that she has an iPad, an iPad mini, an iPhone, and a Blackberry.
A fact sheet published on Clinton’s campaign website indicates that Clinton did not receive the iPad as a gift, but rather sought it out because she was “curious” about it.
Clinton relied on her Blackberry for emailing. This was easiest for her. When the iPad came out in 2010, she was as curious as others and found it great for shopping, browsing, and reading articles when she traveled. She also had access to her email account on her iPad and sometimes used it for that too.
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