Clinton: I won’t respond to Colin Powell’s ‘hubris’ bash in leaked emails

In an interview that aired Thursday morning, Hillary Clinton declined to respond to Colin Powell’s criticism of her in personal emails recently leaked to the public.

“I have a great deal of respect for Colin Powell, and I have a lot of sympathy for anyone whose emails become public. I’m not going to start discussing someone else’s private emails,” Clinton told CNN’s Don Lemon on the “Tom Joyner Morning Show,” according to a transcript.

In the leaked emails, Powell said “everything H.R.C. touches she kind of screws up with hubris,” referring to the Democratic nominee by her initials.

He also complained that Clinton’s “minions” were trying to pull him into her email scandal. Both Clinton and Powell used personal email accounts while serving as secretary of state, though Clinton also used a private server. FBI Director James Comey said there’s evidence that Clinton and her aides were careless with highly classified information.

During her interview, which was taped Wednesday, Clinton sought to pivot from Powell’s email leak to a Russian hacker group reportedly linked to the cyberattack. U.S. experts and government sources reportedly believe that Russian hackers were also behind the leak of Democratic National Committee emails earlier this summer.

“What I think is really important about the emails is the chilling fact, Don, that the Russians are continuing to attempt to interfere in our election,” Clinton said.

She pointed to Donald Trump’s repeated praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Republican nominee’s policy positions that take a relatively soft stance on Russian aggression.

“I have to say I’m increasingly concerned by how we’ve seen Donald Trump’s alarming closeness with the Kremlin become more and more clear over the course of this campaign. It’s deeply concerning,” Clinton said.

Lemon tried to return the discussion to Powell’s criticism of her “hubris.”

“He’s insinuating that you step on your message through hubris or arrogance or not being transparent. How do you respond to that?” he asked.

“I’m not going to comment on anything that is said in a private email,” Clinton replied.

In his emails, Powell was even more critical of Trump. Among other things, Powell, who served under Republican George W. Bush, said Trump’s approach to black voters was to “take us for idiots.” He also bashed Trump’s embrace of the “racist” movement questioning the validity of President Obama’s birth certificate.

Unlike Clinton, Trump was more than willing to hit back at Powell: