PORTSMOUTH, N.H.—Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday that her family paid a State Department employee to maintain the private email server she used while secretary of state and compensated him “for a period of time” for his technical skills.
After picking up the endorsement of New Hampshire’s senior senator, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, Clinton was again pressed to answer questions about an issue from her time in the Obama Cabinet that has dogged her presidential candidate.
“We obviously paid for those services and did so because during a period of time we continued to need his technical assistance,” the Democratic front-runner told reporters after a campaign event.
Last week, that employee, Bryan Pagliano, told a House committee that he would invoke his constitutional right against self-incrimination if called to testify.
Last month, Clinton gave the FBI the server, kept in her New York home, that she used to send, receive and store emails while secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Clinton has said she set up her own system, instead of using a State Department account, for the convenience of using a single hand-held email device.
Clinton told reporters Saturday that she did not think the revelation about Pagliano’s payment would hurt her campaign and she encouraged “anyone who is asked to cooperate” with the committee to do so.
The candidate later stopped at bookstore before heading to Manchester for a Labor Day weekend event with union activists.
In an interview with NBC News that aired Friday, Clinton said her use of the private email system wasn’t the “best choice” and acknowledged she didn’t “stop and think” about her email setup when she took over at the State Department.
She did not apologize for her decision when asked directly, “Are you sorry?” Instead, she again said she wishes she had “made a different choice” and that she takes responsibility for the decision to use a private email account and server based at her home in suburban New York.
