Mediaboss Marketing

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 23: Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at an award ceremony for the 2015 Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting March 23, 2015 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee, Getty Images

Hillary Clinton made an unusual appearance Monday evening - she keynoted an awards ceremony to honor political journalists.

"I am well aware that some of you may be a little surprised to see me here tonight," she said to the room of about 300 people, many of them journalists. "You know my relationship with the press has been at times, shall we say, complicated."

Play Video

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, says the public have a right to know the truth about Hillary Clintons reaction to the 2012...

Clinton joked that everyone had non-disclosure agreements under their seats, and then moved on to reflect on the life and legacy of Robin Toner, for whom the award was named. Toner was a longtime New York Times reporter who passed away in 2008, the first woman named to be the Times' national political correspondent. Clinton's appearance at the ceremony was a testament to her respect for Toner.

"Mostly I am here because I really admired Robin, I admired her approach toward covering the events that I was involved in, directly, starting in the 1992 presidential campaign, when she covered that campaign," Hillary explained.

Toner, who was also the Times' lead reporter for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential run, sat down with Hillary Clinton for multiple interviews, the last one in 2007 when they spoke about healthcare. Clinton had just rolled out her healthcare plan for the 2008 presidential campaign.

Play Video

Susan Page of USA Today, Peter Baker of The New York Times, John Heilemann of Bloomberg Politics and Dana Milbank of the Washington Post discuss ...

More here:
Hillary Clinton keynotes event to honor political journalism