Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton on Sunday said that she takes classified information "very seriously" and equated the controversy over "top secret" emails to Republican attacks over Benghazi -- something many consider to be a major distraction in her tight race with Bernie Sanders just one day before the Iowa caucuses.
"This is very much like Benghazi," Clinton said on Sunday on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." "Republicans are going to continue to use it, beat up on me. I understand that. That's the way they are," she added, according to ABC News.
The State Department announced Friday that it would refuse to release nearly two dozen of Clinton's emails from when she was secretary of state, saying they contained "top secret" information. It remains unclear as to what information was in those emails, but it was the first time the State Department elaborated on the sensitivity level of the emails.
Clinton suggested in the ABC interview that questions about her email are little more than a political issue and said Republicans are "grasping at straws" like they were during her marathon Benghazi testimony in October.
"After eleven hours of testimony, answering every single question in public, which I had requested for many months, I think it's pretty clear they're grasping at straws and this will turn out the same way," Clinton said, according to RealClear Politics.
However, Clinton declined to outright say the email controversy was politically motivated, saying, "I'm going to leave that to others who are quite experienced in the ways of Washington to comment on," according to The Washington Times. "I just have to point out that the timing and some of the leaks that have led up to it are concerning," she added.
Clinton once again called for the emails to be released. "I just want this matter resolved," she said. "The best way to resolve is to do what I asked months ago -- release these, let the public see them, and let's move on."
