Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she conducted government business on a private email account out of “convenience”.

Hillary Clinton said it “would have been better” to have two accounts to separate work and personal emails.

She is seen as a top contender for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.

The state department said it will release her emails, about 55,000 printed pages in total, after a review.

“I thought using one device would be simpler; obviously, it hasn’t worked out that way,” Hillary Clinton said.

Officials’ correspondence is considered government records under federal law.

Hillary Clinton made no clarifying remarks about her potential run for president during the news conference.

Photo Reuters

She said no classified material was sent from the private account and said her use of personal email was permitted by the state department.

Hillary Clinton said she and her staff made the decision over what would be considered personal email when the state department asked for records from former secretaries of state.

“I fully complied with every rule,” she said.

She also said she had discarded thousands of personal emails including ones about planning her daughter’s wedding and her mother’s funeral.

Hillary Clinton added the “vast majority” of her emails related to state department business were automatically recorded because they were in correspondence with other government officials.

She used email from a private server set up for her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in their family home in New York which is guarded by the Secret Service.

She told reporters the contents of the server would remain private.

In a separate news conference state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said a review of Hillary Clinton’s emails for publication would likely take months.

Jen Psaki said on March 10 that once the review is complete, the emails will be posted online for the public to see.

Passages revealing anything from trade secrets to sensitive national security information could be redacted, in keeping with open records law guidelines.

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