Hillary Clinton held a press conference Thursday afternoon, following on her recent pledge to be more open and available to media.
The presser lasted roughly eight minutes, and she fielded questions from seven reporters. However, there were actually six separate questions as the seventh was a repeat of a line of inquiry about when Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., learned she had pneumonia last week.
The Democratic nominee declined several times Thursday to say when Kaine was told that she was ill.
Here are all the questions that reporters asked Clinton:
1. The polls show the 2016 election is tightening. Is there anything you should be doing differently right now in crucial swing states to ensure GOP nominee Donald Trump doesn’t win in November?
Clinton: “I always said this was going to be a tight race.”
She added she would continue to deliver her message about “what’s at stake in this election.”
2. The cease-fire Secretary of State John Kerry helped negotiate in Syria is less than a week old. Do you think the agreement can hold? If not, what should the next steps of the United States be?
Clinton: “I think whether or not this works is really up to the Russians. It is up to whether or not [Russian President] Vladimir Putin decides that it’s time to do what the Russians do to bring this conflict into a period where there can be the beginning of political discussions … I’m going to watch this closely, but at the end of it it’s going to be determined by whether or not the Russians decide it is in their interest to pursue this agreement.”
3. It appeared Tim Kaine may not have been aware of your pneumonia on Friday. I’m wondering when you informed him. And if you didn’t inform him on Friday, what does that say about what your relationship would be like with him in the White House, how in the know he would be in minutes of developments in your administration?
Clinton: “My senior staff knew, and information was provided to a number of people.”
4. In terms of Tim Kaine, can you expand on how often you talk? What’s your relationship with him? Has it been jeopardized by him being left in the dark about you being ill last week?
Clinton: “I communicated with Tim. I talked to him again last night. He has been a great partner and he’s going to be a great vice president.”
4a. Follow-up on when Kaine found out about Clinton’s pneumonia.
Clinton: “We communicated. We’ve communicated, but I am not going to go into our personal conversations and I feel very comfortable and confident about our relationship and I really look forward to working with him closely.”
5. You’ve said in the past you’ve put up some defenses against media. Can you be a little bit more specific about what those defenses are that you’re referring to and did voters get a glimpse of some of that in the way that your campaign handled the events surrounding your illness over the weekend?
Clinton: “My campaign has said that they could have been faster and I agree with that. I certainly expect them to be as focused and quick as possible.”
She added she didn’t think the pneumonia would be a big deal, and said she regretted not taking time off when her doctor advised it.
6. Why are you taking time off of the campaign trail to meet with world leaders?
Clinton: “It’s important to be constantly reaching out, listening to, learning from leaders, and I was pleased to be able to find the time to meet with several of them, which I intended to do.”
She added she developed many relationships with foreign leaders as secretary of state and a U.S. senator.
