O’Malley calls Clinton email server a distraction

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley on Thursday refused to attack fellow 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, saying scrutiny of the former secretary of State’s private email server is a distraction.

{mosads}O’Malley said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” during a campaign stop in Des Moines that concerns over Clinton’s server will not fire up their party’s base and help win them next year’s presidential election.

“All of this stuff about the email server and top-secret messages, these are not ideas that excite the electorate,” he said.

“These are not the ideas that spark the imagination of people,” O’Malley said. “I think it underscores why we need to have these conversations.”

“Shame on us as a Democratic Party if we don’t step forward and start offering up ideas to help our country,” he added. “We face a lot of challenges as a country and our party actually has solutions to those challenges.”

Clinton announced on Tuesday evening that she is turning over her email server to the Justice Department amid concerns it contains classified national intelligence.

O’Malley dismissed questions on Thursday over whether the former secretary mishandled sensitive data.

“Secretary Clinton and her lawyers can answer those questions about her emails,” he said.

The former governor additionally questioned whether Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) can rally Democrats in the long term.

O’Malley argued that Sanders’s populism will not help him win their party’s coronation next election cycle.

“I think he does a very good job of expressing the anger we’re feeling that people are working harder and not getting ahead,” he said of Sanders’s appeal.

“No great nation ever built its foundation on anger,” O’Malley added. “My track record as an executive — as an executive, not a legislator — is one of being relentless, forging a new consensus and getting things done.”

“We were very successful on that at both the state and city level. I look forward to doing it for the American people as the next president.”