Clinton concedes email issue hurts her in polls

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose campaign has been besieged by questions about her use of a private email account to conduct official business while she was secretary of state, acknowledged Sunday that the persistent "drip, drip, drip" has hurt her in the polls but insisted that she has done everything in her power to be transparent.

"This is a contest, and it's fair game for people to raise whatever they choose to raise . . . you know they're not giving this job away," Clinton said during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press. "Of course I take responsibility. It was my choice. It was a mistake back when I did it, and I'm trying to do the best I can to answer all of the questions that people have."

For months, Republicans have raised questions about thousands of emails sent and received by Clinton from a private account while at the State Department that were then deleted from her private server. Clinton has insisted that she turned over all government-related emails, in addition to some personal ones. However, media reports containing new details have undermined some of her claims.

"It's like a drip, drip, drip, and that's why I said that there's only so much that I can control," Clinton said, declining to assure supporters that no further questions would be raised about her statements on the emails. "I can't predict to you what the Republicans will come up with, what kind of charges or claims they might make . . . I can only do the best I can to try to respond."

Clinton and her campaign have maintained that she deleted only personal emails from the server and that all government-related emails were provided to the State Department. However, new disclosures by federal officials have raised new questions about Clinton's claims.

Officials with the State Department told the Washington Post last week that their request for Clinton to turn over her emails was not part of a standard operating procedure, as she has maintained, and that they asked specifically after discovering that she was exclusively using a private account for government work.

Clinton likened the inquiries into her correspondence to controversies like the Whitewater land deal that trailed her husband's campaign and much of his administration, saying voters in New York elected her to the Senate despite years of political questions.

"During the '90s, I was subjected to the same kind of barrage. And it was, it seemed to be at the time, endless," she said. "When I ran for the Senate, people said, 'Hey, we are more concerned about what you're going to do for us.' And I trust the voters to make that decision this time around too."

The historical comparison marks a new line of defense. Clinton told a longtime supporter recently that she understands her friends are frustrated and worried by her slide in the polls. But the solution, she said, is not to attack the challenger who is surging. "I am not going to start to take shots at Bernie Sanders," she said, according to a person familiar with the exchange.

This article contains information from the Associated Press.