Obama dodges question on Clinton’s emails, paid speeches

President Obama dodged a question about Hillary Clinton’s email controversy and her paid speeches to Wall Street on Thursday.

At the end of a press conference in Ise Shima, Japan, on Thursday, Obama told reporters that “as a special bonus, I’m going to take one more question, go ahead.”

{mosads}A reporter than asked Obama about a State Department inspector general report released Wednesday that said Clinton and her aides didn’t comply with agency records-keeping policies.

“Just yesterday we saw the State Department’s inspector general put out a report about Secretary Clinton’s emails. It basically undermines some of what she’s said about her email practices,” the journalist asked.

“I’m wondering if you think that undermines her trustworthiness with the American people and if you agree with Bernie Sanders that she should release the transcripts of her highly paid speeches to Wall Street?” he continued.

“OK, you know what? I take it back. I’m not taking another one,” Obama responded to laughter.

“We’re in Japan, don’t we have something in Asia that we want to talk about? I’ll be talking about this in Washington the whole time,” he added.

Obama said reporters should take those questions to the Clinton and Sanders campaigns.

“Look, I’ve already said a lot about these issues,” the president continued. “I think those are better directed to the campaign.

“I think that the noise that is going back and forth between the candidates at this point, if you want insights into how they’re thinking about it, those should be directed to them.”

The State Department’s Office of the Inspector General found that by routing a personal email address through a private server, Clinton might have skirted policies intended to uphold federal records keeping laws.

Her use of a private server while secretary of State may also have put national secrets at jeopardy, the report added.

Clinton has also faced pressure from critics to release transcripts of her paid speeches to Goldman Sachs, among others.

“Now, my own view is if you’re going to give a speech for $225,000 it must be one hell of a speech,” Sanders said on Feb. 29 in Milton, Mass. “And you’re going to want to share it with the American people.”