Clinton Deflects Emailgate With Some Humor

On Tuesday, a week after she handed her personal, non-government-issued email server over to federal authorities, Hillary Clinton joked about her private email account and the possible classified information on it while speaking with reporters at a Nevada campaign stop. The Democratic presidential candidate is not out of "Emailgate" quite yet, though the candid comments suggest that she wants this story gone, pronto. "Nobody talks to me about it other than you guys," Clinton claimed, dismissing all assertions that this ongoing scandal will eventually catch up to her in the polls.

When asked if she "wiped the server" after she left her post as secretary of state, Clinton glibly responded, "What, like with a cloth or something?" while reportedly making a "wiping" gesture. She continued:

I don’t know how it works digitally at all. I know you want to make a point, I will just repeat what I have said: In order to be cooperative as possible, we have turned over the server … we turned over everything that was work-related. Every single thing.

According to Politico, Clinton, who was freely answering supporters' questions earlier at the town hall stop, grew agitated when reporters raised concerns over the server. "No matter what anyone tries to say, the facts are stubborn," Clinton told the media. "What I did was legally permitted, first and foremost."

Clinton added that she regrets how "this [email scandal] had to become such a cause celebre," referring to the members of the Right using the investigation as a way to attack her character. But the candidate, who still leads her fellow Democratic challengers in the polls, doesn't seem to think that Emailgate will follow her to Election Day — if she makes it there.

But Clinton is losing ground to Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who has reinvigorated America's progressive movement over a matter of months. According to a poll by CNN and ORC International released Wednesday morning, just 47 percent of registered Democrats said they would support Clinton in the primary, down from 56 percent last month. Sanders, meanwhile, continues to surge: 29 percent of registered Democrats said they would vote for him in the primary — a jump from the 19 percent he garnered last month.

Wednesday's poll also highlighted Clinton's declining "favorability" rating among registered Democrats. Just 44 percent of voters had a "favorable" opinion of Clinton — the lowest rating since she announced her presidential campaign five months ago.