Former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was asked by congressional investigators more than two years ago whether she had used a private email account while serving as the nation’s top diplomat, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Mrs. Clinton did not reply to the letter from Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican and then-chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and the State Department ignored the question and provided no response when it answered in March 2013 after Mrs. Clinton had left office, The Times reported Tuesday.
Mr. Issa asked Mrs. Clinton in a Dec. 13, 2012, letter if she or any senior agency official ever used a personal email account to conduct official business, if the agency requires employees to certify they have turned over communications involving official business from nonofficial accounts, and written documentation of the department’s policies on the matter.
A response to Mr. Issa from the State Department on March 27 described the department’s email policies and reportedly said any employee using a personal account “should make it clear that his or her personal email is not being used for official business.”
Mrs. Clinton admitted last month that she exclusively used a private email system and server while working as secretary of state, saying she did so out of convenience. The House committee investigating the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, is looking into the email issue and has requested a transcribed interview on Mrs. Clinton’s decision-making in deciding which emails she turned over to the government and why she wiped the server clean.
Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said the Issa letter was sent to all Cabinet agencies shortly before Mrs. Clinton left the State Department and the department responded in due course, according to The Associated Press.
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“As we’ve said before, as secretary, she followed the letter and the spirit of the law. She has provided all of her work email to the State Department and has asked the State Department to release them publicly as soon as possible,” Mr. Merrill said.
A State Department spokesman told The Times that the department responds to thousands of congressional inquiries and requests for information each year.
“In its March 2013 letter, the department responded to the House Oversight Committee’s inquiry into the department’s ’policies and practices regarding the use of personal email and other forms of electronic communications’ with a letter that described those policies in detail,” said spokesman Alec Gerlach.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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