Clinton: Most Republicans Are Similar To Trump On Immigration

Hillary Clinton gave her first national interview on Tuesday as a presidential candidate, after nearly two months on the campaign and amid criticism she's been avoiding the press. In a conversation with CNN's Brianna Keilar, Clinton fielded questions on topics ranging from her use of a private email address as Secretary of State to which woman should be on the $10 bill. Clinton began by talking about immigration, using the recent uproar over Donald Trump's widely disparaged comments about Mexicans to draw a line in the sand between herself and the GOP. "I feel very disappointed with [Trump] and with the Republican Party for not responding immediately and saying, 'Enough — stop it,'" she said, noting that Trump is a friend and had given money to her Senate campaign. Clinton also emphasized that Trump's position doesn't make him an outlier in the Republican field. "They are all in the same general area on immigration. They don't want to provide a path to citizenship. They range across a spectrum from either being grudgingly welcome or hostile to immigrants," Clinton said. "I'm going to talk about immigration reform. I'm going to talk about all of the good, law-abiding, productive members of the immigrant community that I personally know." The tensest moment in the generally friendly interview came when conversation turned to Clinton's deletion of tens of thousands of emails from her time as Secretary of State. Clinton repeated statements she'd made previously about the scandal, insisting there were no laws or rules at the time banning what she did, and that it was just easier for her to use a single Blackberry. "I'm not the most technically capable person and wanted to make it as easy as possible," she explained. "This is being blown up with no basis in law or fact," Clinton added, suggesting the scandal was just political haymaking. "This is being used by the Republicans in the Congress — okay — but I want people to understand what the truth is. And the truth is, everything I did was permitted." Clinton did dodge one question: When asked about putting women on U.S. currency, Clinton tactfully suggested that it'd be better to put a female face on the $20 bill, replacing Andrew Jackson, than on the $10, which honors Alexander Hamilton — but declined to give any names.