President Obama has revealed he heard the revelations Hillary Clinton used a private email account to conduct official state business at 'the same time as everybody else ' when news reports surfaced . In an interview with CBS News during his trip to Selma , Alabama , he defended the former Secretary of State and applauded her decision to release the emails . ' I 'm glad that Hillary 's instructed that those emails about official business need to be disclosed , ' Obama said , according to an excerpt of the interview released by the network . Scroll down for video . 'Same time as everybody else ' : President Obama told CBDS News he learned Hilary Clinton had used a private email account for state business during her tenure as Secretary of State when news reports surfaced . Clinton , seen as the front-runner for the Democratic Party 's presidential nomination in 2016 , said on Wednesday she wanted the State Department to release the emails quickly . ' I think that the fact that she is putting them forward will allow us to make sure that people have the information they need , ' Obama said in the interview , versions of which will be aired on Sunday morning on CBS . 'The policy of my administration is to encourage transparency , which is why my emails , the Blackberry I carry around , all those records are available and archived , ' Obama added . The growing controversy over Clinton 's use of personal email for work while she was U.S. secretary of state threatens to cloud the expected launch of her campaign . Clinton tried to quell the growing controversy late on Wednesday , saying she wanted the State Department to release the emails quickly . But a senior State Department official told Reuters on Thursday the task would take time . Transparency : The president applauded the front-runner for the 2016 Democratic nominee for saying she would release the emails following criticism . 'The review is likely to take several months given the sheer volume of the document set , ' the official said . The State Department has said there was no prohibition during Clinton 's tenure on using personal email for official business as long as it was preserved . A total of 55,000 pages of documents covering the time Clinton was in office has been turned over , according to the State Department . But Clinton and her aides controlled that process , and the emails were not archived on government servers .
Described how he heard of the damning revelations in interview with State . Applauded former Secretary of CBS for saying she would release emails . Insisted that the policy of his administration is to encourage 'transparency ' Controversy could overshadow Clinton 's expected presidential campaign .