Hillary Clinton To Meet The Press, But Likely To Avoid The Circus

NEW YORK -- Hillary Clinton is expected to take questions from reporters Tuesday afternoon, more than a week since revelations surfaced that she exclusively used a private email account while conducting State Department business and amid continued questions about the Clinton Foundation accepting millions of dollars from foreign countries.

Clinton will be giving the keynote address at a women's conference, but her choice of venue, the United Nations, may help the former Secretary of State avoid a media circus because of how difficult it is for reporters to quickly get U.N. accreditation.

Politico reported Monday that Clinton was expected to hold a news conference this week, but it wasn't until Tuesday morning that reporters began tweeting news that her much-anticipated availability to the press likely would be that afternoon.

Reporters now frantically trying to get accreditation Tuesday morning to an event several hours later could be out of luck, as applications for credentials needed to be made 24 hours in advance, according to MSNBCs Alex Seitz-Wald. A Clinton spokesman said Tuesday that they are trying to get additional access for reporters not already credentialed to cover the conference.

Still, a reporter would first need to apply for a U.N. media credential by submitting a letter from a manager on company letterhead. If a reporter has current U.N. media credentials and is accredited to cover Tuesdays conference, he or she would also need to wait in line at a nearby office Tuesday morning to receive a pass, which along with a passport, is needed to gain access.

The process could prevent not only political reporters who don't normally cover the U.N. from getting inside, but also, say, a Howard Stern regular who may lob oddball questions.

Clinton has so far bypassed the media filter by speaking directly through Twitter and stating late Wednesday night that she wanted the public to see her emails.

But that tweet didn't answer questions such as why she exclusively used a private email that could prevent transparency and accountability, how her staff determined which emails to recently provide to the State Department, and how secure her communications were on a private email server.

Clinton has avoided answer questions when approached in public. An enterprising TMZ reporter, though somewhat mangling the question, asked Clinton last week about the emails and didn't get a response. On Monday, Clinton didn't respond to reporters' questions at the Clinton Foundation's "No Ceilings" event.

While Republican 2016 hopefuls are frequently doing interviews, Clinton, the presumptive Democratic frontrunner, has engaged little with the media in the run-up to an expected campaign launch in April.

Clinton sat down last month with Re/codes Kara Swisher at the Watermark Lead On conference after giving a speech. That was Clintons first interview with a reporter since August, when she spoke with The Atlantics Jeffrey Goldberg.

She also appears to have last taken questions at a news conference in July 2014 at an event to encourage reading to children.

This story has been updated to include comment from a Clinton spokesperson.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/10/hillary-clinton-media-circus_n_6838898.html