6 Heartfelt Bill Clinton Quotes About Hillary

Bill Clinton appeared on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday to discuss the 2016 election. In a lengthy interview with Jake Tapper, the former president gave his thoughts on police brutality and the growing list of Republican presidential candidates. Clinton also opened up about his wife and their relationship. The interview was incredibly personal and what Bill said about Hillary Clinton and her candidacy only further reaffirms her strength and leadership.

The interview comes just one day after Clinton's first campaign event in which she outlined her goals in a lengthy, comprehensive address on Roosevelt Island in New York City. Bill began the interview by fielding a question about the recent email scandal that saw the release of some 850 emails from Clinton's personal account. Addressing whether the American people can trust a candidate like Clinton, Bill went all the way back to childhood to reaffirm his faith in her, citing the strength in their relationship and her commitment to long-term friendships as something to celebrate:

I trust her with my life and have on more than one occasion. I think anybody who's still really close to their best friend from grade school is by definition trustworthy, unless they were robbing stores together at six or seven.

Bill said that it was Clinton who gave him the strength to succeed in politics. Early in their relationship and in his political career, he faced uncertainty and self-doubt. Bill says that Clinton helped him through that difficult period:

I don't know if you had this but I had some tough years in my late 20s. When you're starting out in life, you're plagued by self-doubt and I was always rushing around because my father died before I was born and she [Hillary] was always... whenever I had trouble, she was the rock our family.

Bill was dealt a particularly difficult blow when first seeking presidential election, and he says it was Clinton who maintained composure and assurance when his colleagues seemingly wouldn't:

I was the youngest former governor in American history in 1980 on election night and I got killed on a Reagan landslide and the people I had appointed to office would walk across the street they were so afraid of the new regime in Arkansas. They would not shake hands with me. My career prospects were not particularly bright and she never blinked. She just said, 'Hey, it'll turn around. I believe in you. You got this.'

Circling back to the email scandal, Bill was able to take the incident and find its silver lining by looking at the incredible accountability made available through technology. According to the former president, the amount of disclosure due to the advent of the internet and social media levels the playing field and may help mitigate potentially false allegations by making it easier than ever to follow a story to its end:

I remember when Hillary was completely exonerated when I was in the White House and all that Whitewater business, when an official federal inquiry said that her billing records, they wished for her sake, could've been found earlier, because they completely corroborated everything she'd said. And the next day there was nothing in the media about it. There was stunning non-disclosure.

Bill called the scandal more of a personal attack than anything and chose to view it as a sign that other candidates are threatened by Clinton's campaign:

I think when people go to personal attacks this far before an election it means they're scared of you and they should be. She would be a very good president and she has proven out to be a very good candidate, and I'm proud of that.

Bill has taken Clinton's attitude of forward momentum and now finds himself supporting her in the same ways she supported him during his political career. In addition to sharing their lives together, the two share political views and passions. For that reason and no matter what happens during the 2016 election, Bill says they'll come out of it just fine:

We built a life together based on the things we care about and the things we love and we were blessed with a daughter who turned out pretty well, I'd say. And we've been very blessed. The other thing is, it's different when you're our age. We'll be fine. Whatever happens here, we are going to come out of life ahead and I think she wants to serve and I want her to have the chance to serve if the majority of the American people agree.

Images: Getty Images (5)