Clinton aide: She 'thrives' on the attacks

Hillary Clinton cannot be knocked down and will keep fighting back as questions swirl around her use of a private email server while at the State Department, the Democratic front-runner’s communications director asserted Wednesday.

“I think when you get to the point where you’re answering questions about wiping servers that you’re nearing the end of legitimate questions for her to answer,” Jennifer Palmieri told MSNBC’s Luke Russert, remarking that the campaign is focused on “educating” voters about the complexities surrounding the issue.


Clinton is “durable,” Palmieri said. “You cannot knock her down. She’s been through months and months of pretty much 19 candidates on both sides attacking her every day, and she thrives.”

In addressing Clinton’s slumping poll numbers, Palmieri said that it comes as no surprise that the race is getting more competitive or that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is doing well in the neighboring state of New Hampshire. The campaign did not expect Clinton to “waltz” into getting the nomination, she added, remarking that “press coverage of her poll numbers is usually pretty skewed.”

On Tuesday, in a combative exchange with reporters, Clinton responded, “Like with a cloth or something?” to a question about whether she personally had wiped her server.

“We’re confident that there’s not anything in those emails that we’re extremely concerned about, and we’ll get through that process, hopefully by January, that’s when they’ll be done with it, and people can judge for themselves. But we’re very confident when that all is seen, people will see what she did as secretary of state and feel good about it,” Palmieri said.

Repeating the campaign line that the investigation of Clinton’s emails has turned political, Palmieri said that Clinton has “been through a lot of battles.”

In particular, Russert asked Palmieri about a POLITICO story published Wednesday that quoted Clinton allies worrying about her handling of questions surrounding the email scandal.

Palmieri reiterated that Clinton has “been through a lot of battles, and she continues to fight back,” and that the process of investigating Benghazi has become politicized.

“She’s gotten through a lot and she continues to fight back,” she said. “We fight hard.”