Hillary Clinton ordered to turn over email server by House Benghazi committee
The committee investigating the Benghazi attacks formally requested Friday that Hillary Rodham Clinton turn her email server over to an independent third party so it can be scrutinized to determine whether she and the Obama administration complied with open records laws.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, the committees chairman, sent a letter to the former secretary of states personal lawyer to make the request, which he said only comes after exhaustive efforts to get a look at her communications during the time of the 2012 terrorist attacks on the U.S. diplomatic post and CIA annex in Libyas second-largest city.
Though Secretary Clinton alone is responsible for causing this issue, she alone does not get to determine its outcome, the South Carolina Republican said.
Mrs. Clinton earlier this month admitted she refused to use an official government-issued email account and instead conducted government business on a personal account she set up on a server she controlled out of her New York home.
She has asserted she complied with the law by hoping her emails were being cataloged based on whom she was mailing, and, by late last year nearly two years after she left office turning over about 30,000 emails she retroactively deemed to be government business. She said she did not turn over about 32,000 other messages she deemed private.
Mrs. Clinton previously has rejected turning her email server over to someone else, saying she believes the law gives her final say on which emails should be deemed public.
Mr. Gowdy has said Mrs. Clinton could turn her server over to a retired federal judge, an inspector general or some other third party with a professional reputation for even-handedness.
A Clinton spokesman, however, reiterated her stance that she has met her obligations.
Weve turned over all of her work emails, and taken the extraordinary step of asking the State Department to release all of them, said spokesman Nick Merrill. When they are released, which we hope to be soon, it will offer an unprecedented opportunity for the American people to see for themselves that they are all there, and then some.
Democrats on Capitol Hill have rallied to Mrs. Clintons defense, with Rep. Adam Schiff, California Democrat and a member of the Benghazi committee, saying he was deeply troubled by Mr. Gowdys move.
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Hillary Clinton ordered to turn over email server by House Benghazi committee