Clinton brushes off criticism that she didn’t smile during forum

Hillary Clinton is dismissing a tweet by Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus criticizing the former secretary of state for not smiling enough during an NBC/MSNBC commander in chief forum Wednesday night.

“I don’t take my advice and I don’t take anything seriously that comes from the RNC,” Clinton said during a press conference on an airport tarmac in White Plains, N.Y., Thursday morning. “We were talking about serious issues last night,” she said.

She continued, defending her demeanor during the event: “I had a very short window of time in that event last night to convey the seriousness with which I would approach the issues that concern our country.”

Clinton wouldn’t speculate on whether the criticism represented a double standard, saying she would leave it for journalists and academics to sort out.

Priebus criticized Clinton’s performance at the forum in a tweet Wednesday night, calling her “angry” and “defensive.” The tweet almost immediately drew a backlash online, with many calling the remarks sexist.

@HillaryClinton was angry + defensive the entire time - no smile and uncomfortable - upset that she was caught wrongly sending our secrets.
— Reince Priebus (@Reince) September 8, 2016

Shortly after the tweet was posted Wednesday, Clinton’s campaign account tweeted a rebuttal:

Actually, that’s just what taking the office of President seriously looks like. https://t.co/Pyn92mesom
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 8, 2016

Christina Prignano can be reached at christina.prignano@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @cprignano.