Hillary Clinton's campaign staff
worried about how to respond to a comment involving former first lady
Nancy Reagan and AIDS, leaked emailed released over the weekend show.
The hacked emails from Clinton campaign
chairman John Podesta were released by WikiLeaks.
During an interview in March with MSNBC
at Reagan's funeral, Clinton praised the former first lady's “very
effective, low-key advocacy.”
“Because of both president and Mrs
Reagan, in particular Mrs Reagan, we started a national conversation
when before nobody would talk about it,” Clinton said.
Clinton owned the mistake, saying on
Twitter that she had “misspoken” about the Reagans' record on HIV
and AIDS. “For that, I'm sorry,” she wrote.
Aides urged Clinton to release a more
detailed explanation.
“I don't want this to fester,”
wrote Dominic Lowell, Clinton campaign's LGBT outreach director.
Clinton wrote that she had said
“something inaccurate when speaking about the Reagans' record on
HIV and AIDS.”
“To be clear, the Reagans did not
start a national conversation about HIV and AIDS. That distinction
belongs to generations of brave lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender people, along with straight allies, who started not just
a conversation but a movement that continues to this day,” she
added.