Ready for Hillary aide: Clinton addressed email controversy with joke about #TheDress

by Jesse Byrnes - 03/04/15 3:12 PM ET

Hillary Clinton addressed the controversy about her use of a private email account while secretary of State with a pop culture reference about the black-and-blue dress, an aide for the Ready for Hillary super-PAC said Wednesday.

Clinton, clad in a purple pantsuit, opened her EMILY’s List speech Tuesday night by saying, “Over the years, people have read a lot of different things into my pantsuits.

{mosads}”Despite what you might think, this outfit is not actually white and gold,” Clinton joked.

Tracy Sefl, a Ready for Hillary senior adviser, said on CNN during a discussion on Clinton’s email Wednesday that, “in some ways, she was making a reference to all of this that we are talking about, because some people will choose to read something into it that simply isn’t there.

“I think that that was her subtle way of addressing this,” Sefl added.

Several other pro-Clinton groups have pushed back on allegations that Clinton’s use of private email violated federal rules.

Clinton’s spokesman has said she followed the spirit and text of federal rules, while the presumed Democratic presidential candidate herself has so far not directly addressed the controversy.

Transparency concerns and questions over whether Clinton sent classified information on nongovernmental accounts have dogged her this week after The New York Times reported she operated exclusively on a private email account during her four years as secretary of State.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday she ran her own email server.

While the Federal Records Act was amended after Clinton left office, a National Archives and Records spokeswoman told The New York Times in another report that since 2009, private emails must be archived.

Tags 2016 Hillary Clinton