The House committee investigating the government’s handling of the 2012 terror attacks in Benghazi, Libya, has subpoenaed the State Department for Hillary Clinton’s emails, which the committee found were sent using her personal account.
“The Select Committee on Benghazi today issued subpoenas for all communications of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton related to Libya and to the State Department for other individuals who have information pertinent to the investigation,” spokesman Jamal Ware confirmed Wednesday. “The committee also has issued preservation letters to internet firms informing them of their legal obligation to protect all relevant documents.”
The subpoenas, the most aggressive action taken by the committee to date to obtain documents, suggests the controversy over Clinton’s email practices will not die down soon.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, told reporters Tuesday that the panel planned to exhaust its options in gaining access to the full cache of Clinton’s emails, which were preserved on her personal server, not with the State Department as required by law. Clinton recently turned over 55,000 pages of emails to the State Department, the New York Times reported.
“The committee is going to have to go to her, and her attorneys, and her email providers to ensure we have access to everything the American people are entitled to know,” the South Carolina Republican said.
Clinton’s allies have defended her use of personal email account to conduct official state business, and her spokesman Nick Merrill told the New York Times that Clinton acted in the “letter and spirit of the rules.” But Republicans have widely cried foul, saying the practice circumvented record-keeping laws while potentially leaving a top government official at risk of being hacked.
“You do not need to have a law degree to understand how troubling this is,” Gowdy said.
The controversy leaves Clinton in a vulnerable spot politically, just as she is ramping up toward a bid for president.
