Hillary Clinton tersely defended her use of a private email address and secret home server today during her first national interview of the 2016 presidential campaign, declaring, 'Everything I did was permitted.'

Clinton said that 'people should and do trust me' as she proclaimed that she went 'above and beyond' in providing the State Department with 55,000 pages of her emails.

She wouldn't talk about the allegations involving her family foundation, now ran by her daughter Chelsea and husband Bill, contending that she worked there for a short year and a half.

But Clinton said she was 'proud' of the 'very small role' she played in the international charity and the work that it does and said she was used to 'unsubstantiated' rumors being spread about her family after this long in the public eye.

Scroll down for video

Hillary Clinton tersely defended her use of a private email address and secret home server today during her first national interview of the 2016 presidential campaign, declaring, 'Everything I did was permitted'

Clinton appeared agitated throughout most of the interview with CNN's Brianna Keilar, filmed today in Iowa City, telling her at one point, 'You know you're starting with so many assumptions, I never got a subpoena....again, let's take a deep breath here' as she defended her email practices

Clinton appeared agitated throughout most of the interview with CNN's Brianna Keilar, filmed today in Iowa City, telling her at one point, 'You know, you're starting with so many assumptions, I never had a subpoena....again, let's take a deep breath here' as she defended her email practices.

'There was nothing that did not give me the full authority to decide how I was going to communicate,' she said.

She further implied that the White House knew that she did not have a State Department email address during her time in the president's cabinet because officials knew she only carried one telephonic device.

'Now, I didn't have to turn over anything. I chose to turn over 55,000 pages because I wanted to go above and beyond what's expected of me,' a visibly annoyed Clinton said.

The former secretary of state said she was under no legal 'obligation' to turn over any of her emails, let alone ones that did not relate to national security matters.

Emails about her afternoon iced teas and her inability to work a secure fax machine - which she noted today is more difficult to work than standard devices - were at her discretion to provide, she said.

'This is being blown up with no basis in law or in fact,' she said.

Republicans in Congress, she said, are just using it to harangue her.

'Everything I did was permitted, and I went above and beyond what anybody could have expected,' she told Keilar. 'And so let's set the record straight.'

Clinton said she and her husband have been on the receiving end of a 'constant barrage of attacks that are largely fomented by and coming from the right' for many years, including when she ran for and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000 and again in 2006 and was subjected to what she called an 'onslaught' of character assassinations.

She said 'it's understandable' that voters will have some questions about her conduct given the allegations, but said, 'I have every confidence that during the course of this campaign people are going to know who will fight for them, who will be there when they need them.

'And that's the kind of person I am, and that's what I will do, not only in a campaign but as president.

She moments later said, 'I trust the American voter. I trust the American voter 100 percent.'

'People should and do trust me,' she told Keilar.

'First of all, I always thought this would be a competitive race, so I am happy to have the chance to get out and run my campaign as I see fit and let other candidates do exactly the same,' Clinton said in response to a question about Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, pictured here yesterday in Maine

ON THE POPULARITY OF VERMONT SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS

'First of all, I always thought this would be a competitive race, so I am happy to have the chance to get out and run my campaign as I see fit and let other candidates do exactly the same,' she said.

Clinton said she feels 'very good' about how her campaign is progressing in Iowa, the first state to hold its nomination contest, and has learned from her last bid to be the Democratic candidate, which she lost to underdog candidate Barack Obama in 2008, that the key to winning there is organization.

She refused compare her economic plan to that of Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who wants to significantly raise taxes on corporations and wealthy Americans, saying, 'I will be laying out my own economic polices.'

'Again everybody has to run his or her own campaign,' she defiantly pronounced. 'And I'm going to be telling the American people what I propose, and how I think it will work, then we'll let the voters make up their minds.'

Clinton said she would detail her economic proposal in a speech on Monday. 'And then I look forward to the debate on them.'

'Everybody has to run his or her own campaign,' she defiantly pronounced. 'And I'm going to be telling the American people what I propose, and how I think it will work, then we'll let the voters make up their minds'

ON DONALD TRUMP'S COMMENTS ABOUT MEXICANS AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

'I'm very disappointed in those comments, and I feel very bad and very disappointed with him and with the Republican Party for not responding immediately and saying, "Enough, stop it",' Clinton said.

His comments reflect the attitude of the entire Republican field toward illegal immigrants, she said, which is that they are 'begrudgingly welcome' or outright 'hostile' to them.

'They are all in the same general area on immigration,' she said. 'They don’t want to provide a path to citizenship.'

Clinton said she would spend her campaign talking about the 'law abiding productive members of the immigrant community' that she would like to see become citizens.

'I am 100 percent behind comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship,' she said.

When it comes to illegal immigrants who have been convicted of federal crimes, like the man the who has admitted to accidentally shooting a 32-year-old woman in San Francisco, Clinton said she was fully in support of deportation, though.

'I think the city made a mistake, not to deport someone that the federal government thought should be deported,' she said. 'This man had already been deported five times and should have been deported at the request of the federal government.'

Clinton is pictured here earlier today aft a house party in Ottumwa, Iowa. She said during the interview that she feels 'very good' about how her campaign is progressing in Iowa, the first state to hold its nomination contest

ON HER COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MEDIA

Clinton's campaign announced over the weekend that she would be doing more national media interviews and would hold avails more often on the campaign trail amid criticism that she'd spent the first few months of her candidacy trying to avoid scrutiny by blowing off the press.

'Nothing's really changed,' she said, claiming it was her intention all along to do more interviews once she settled into the rhythm of the campaign.

'I'm not running my campaign for the press. I'm running it for voters,' she said. 'I totally respect the press, and what the press has to do. But I wanted, and was determined, to have the time that I needed to actually meet and listen to people.'

Clinton said she didn't deal with domestic politics as secretary of state and wanted to take the time to hear the stories of average Americans in small groups before she determined the themes of her campaign.

'So obviously I'll be doing more press,' she said, adding that she 'did local press all along.'

Last month Clinton did grant a series of reporters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina interviews but that was roughly two months into her candidacy. She had only taken questions from the press at a couple campaign stops up to that point.

'I'm not running my campaign for the press. I'm running it for voters,' she said. 'I totally respect the press, and what the press has to do. But I wanted, and was determined, to have the time that I needed to actually meet and listen to people'

ON THE PROSPECT OF HAVING A WOMAN ON THE $10 BILL

'You know, I am very torn about it,' she said.

Clinton said she does want to see a woman on American currency, but she doesn't understand why the government rejected a proposal to put a woman on the $20 and chose the $10 instead.

'You know, I want a woman on a bill. And I think it might be easier to change the 20 than the 10, but we’ll see,' she said.

The former first lady said she also does not like that whoever is selected to represent women on the $10 bill will have to share the honor with Alexander Hamilton.

'I don’t like the idea that, to compromise, you’d basically have two people on the same bill. One would be a woman. That sounds pretty second-class to me,' she said.