WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton kept her lips zipped Monday on her festering e-mail scandal at a public appearance in Midtown, but under growing pressure, aides leaked word that she’ll finally address the issue this week.
The change of heart occurred after a week of silence in the face of congressional subpoenas and news reports that she may have violated federal rules by relying on personal e-mails for official business while secretary of state.
But within the bubble of a Clinton Foundation conference in Times Square Monday, Clinton acted as if nothing was wrong during a tightly scripted, two-hour event on empowering women leaders.
“There has never been a better time in history to be born female,” Clinton declared. “But that’s just part of the story. The data also shows how far we still have to go.”
Organizers encouraged selfies, hashtags and web site hits, but made no mention of e-mail.
Instead, in a slick presentation, Clinton called women’s equality “the great unfinished business of the 21st century” in a presentation with her daughter, Chelsea, and Melinda Gates, wife of Bill Gates.
The event was so rehearsed that at one point the president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, felt compelled to say, “This is not in the script but let me say this to you,” as she relayed a story of a young girl telling her she also wants to become president.
Clinton is expected to address the e-mail issue this week, perhaps during a press conference in New York, aides told Politico and other outlets.
Longtime Clinton adviser James Carville on MSNBC brushed off the e-mail flap as “the same cockamamie stuff that we go through.”
Once Clinton addresses the issue it is “never going to end,” he said. “We’ve lived with this for 20 years. We’ll live with it for the rest of the campaign. It’s all about nothing.”