Josh Earnest tried to claim yesterday that “I wouldn’t be surprised, however, if he had learned about that by reading the newspaper”.
Yet, in fact, they’ve known, and covered it up since at least August, at the behest of the Clinton team who urged them to keep it quiet.
Via Politico:
The White House, State Department and Hillary Clinton’s personal office knew in August that House Republicans had received information showing that the former secretary of state conducted official government business through her private email account — and Clinton’s staff made the decision to keep quiet.
Sources familiar with the discussions say key people in the Obama administration and on Clinton’s staff were aware that the revelation could be explosive for the all-but-announced candidate for president. But those involved deferred to Clinton’s aides, and they decided not to respond.
In the end, Clinton’s staff waited six months — until after the New York Times published a story on Tuesday about the email account and the possibility that it hampered public access to official records — to begin their response.