Washington HillaryRodhamClintonwiped her email server "clean," permanently deleting all emails from it, the Republican chairman of a House of Representatives committee investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, said Friday.
Rep. Trey Gowdy said the former secretary of state has failed to produce a single new document in recent weeks and has refused to relinquish her server to a third party for an independent review, as Gowdy has requested.
Clinton, the presumptive frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, faced a Friday deadline to respond to a subpoena for emails and documents related to Libya, including the 2012 attacks in a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. The attention toClinton'suse of a private email account and server has threatened to become a distraction as she prepares to launch her campaign.
Clinton'sattorney, David Kendall, said Gowdy was looking in the wrong place.
In a six-page letter released late Friday, Kendall saidClintonhad turned over to the State Department all work-related emails sent or received during her tenure as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
"The Department of State is therefore in possession of all SecretaryClinton'swork-related emails from the (personal email) account," Kendall wrote.
Kendall also said it would be pointless forClintonto turn over her server, even if legally authorized, since "no emails ... reside on the server or on any backup systems associated with the server."
The Benghazi committee demanded further documents and access to the server after it was revealed thatClintonused a private email account and server during her tenure at State.
Gowdy said he will work with House leaders to consider options. Speaker John Boehner has not ruled out a vote in the full House to forceClintonto turn over the server if she declines to make it available by an April 3 deadline set by Gowdy.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi panel, said Kendall's letter confirmed "what we all knew: that SecretaryClintonalready produced her official records to the State Department, that she did not keep her personal emails and that the Select Committee has already obtained her emails relating to the attacks in Benghazi."
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Benghazi chair: Hillary Clinton wiped server clean of personal e-mails