Hillary Rodham Clinton participates in a women's equality event.(Photo: Don Emmert, AFP/Getty Images)
Hillary Rodham Clinton defended her use of a private e-mail account to conduct State Department business, as she broke her silence about a growing controversy in the midst of a likely presidential campaign.
"Looking back it would have been better to use separate phones and two separate e-mail accounts," Clinton said Tuesday at the United Nations. "I thought one (mobile) device would be simpler. Obviously, it hasn't worked out that way."
The former secretary of State held a news conference after appearing at a United Nations event commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Beijing conference on women. A throng of cameras and reporters, many waiting for hours to get their credentials, waited outside the U.N. Security Council chamber to hear from Clinton.
Clinton reportedly used a private e-mail server that was installed in her home and her own Internet domain — clintonemail.com — to conduct government business. Until now, her only comments came via Twitter on March 4.
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Shortly before Clinton's news conference, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki announced the agency will make 55,000 pages of Clinton's e-mails available on a website after a review that could take months. "We will ... release in one batch at the end of that review to ensure that standards are consistently applied," Psaki said.
Separately, 300 pages of e-mails provided to the House Select Committee on Benghazi will also be reviewed and released before the entire set is available, Psaki said. The department has said repeatedly that Clinton's use of a private e-mail account was not prohibited as long as she kept records.
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Republicans have demanded an investigation. The House Select Committee on Benghazi — which is investigating the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. compound in Libya — has subpoenaed Clinton and the State Department individually for the e-mails it does not yet have.
While Democrats have said the Clinton controversy is overblown, some called on her to speak out. "t's only fair to say to Hillary Clinton, 'Tell us your side of the story,' " Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democratic leader, said on MSNBC. "What did you put on this personal e-mail?"
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned prolonged silence would hurt Clinton.
"She is the leading candidate, whether it be Republican or Democrat ... to be the next president," Feinstein said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. "And I think she needs to step up and come out and state exactly what the situation is."
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With each passing day, however, tidbits about the e-mails have kept the controversy alive.
The White House declined Tuesday to say whether President Obama has a private e-mail account, citing security concerns and noting that all electronic messages are preserved in accordance with the Federal Records Act. Obama exchanged e-mails with Clinton while she served in in his Cabinet, the White House has said.
"We have made clear that part of the security precautions we take around that (Obama) e-mail account is not talking about it much publicly," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.
The controversy over the e-mails overshadowed Clinton's long-planned speeches in March aimed at spotlighting gender equality -- a theme that has long expected to be part of her second try for the presidency.
At the United Nations, Clinton was introduced as a speaker as a "future president," which drew applause from the audience. She recalled her remarks 20 years ago at a landmark U.N. conference, when she proclaimed: "Human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights."
Contributing: David Jackson
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