David Axelrod: Hillary Needed Quicker Response Over Emails

President Barack Obama's former chief strategist David Axelrod was swift to offer some crisis public relations counsel to the "nascent" Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, telling MSNBC that her saying nothing in the wake of her private email scandal opens the door for even more scrutiny.

"I think the real issue here ... however this turns out, this problem is being exacerbated by the lack of answers from the Clinton campaign, or the nascent campaign, and it would be good to get out there and answer these questions," said Axelrod, now an NBC analyst, on MSNBC's "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell."

"Why did she used a separate email? How did she secure that email? Was there another email through which she communicated with people?" Axelrod said of big questions deserving of a public response.

His comments came as the House committee investigating Benghazi threatened a subpoena for the State Department over those emails, traced to a private email server at her home in New York State.

Clinton, responding via Twitter, said she had instructed the State Department to release those emails publicly, The Hill noted. She said the State Department would have to vet what emails should be released.

Clinton failed to notify the White House counsel of her email arrangement while working for the administration, the Associated Press said. It became aware of it, however, during an investigation into her proper role in the Benghazi attacks, according to a source with knowledge of the issue.

"Clinton's exclusive reliance on personal email as the nation's top diplomat was inconsistent with the guidance given to agencies that official business should be conducted on official email accounts," the AP said, citing the source.

"We should not let top government officials say 'you know what, I'm going to handle my own emails,' " said computer security expert Alex McGeorge to MSNBC of Clinton's behavior.

At least one top Democrat, however, defended Clinton's private email use, even as it was called out by O'Donnell as likely a partisan response.

"What she is saying is that she followed precedent, which was what was done before. She just did what Secretary [Colin] Powell did," said former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm on MSNBC.

Related Stories:

• Mystery Man Behind Clinton Email Server Uncovered?
  
• GOP Hopefuls Had Own Brushes with Controversy Over Emails