A U.S. House of Representatives committee issued subpoenas Wednesday for the e-mails of Hillary Clinton, who used a private account exclusively for official business when she was secretary of state — and also used a computer e-mail server now traced back to her family’s New York state home.
The subpoenas indicate Republicans want questions about Clinton’s use of a private e-mail account to follow her into a widely anticipated second presidential campaign. Republicans, who control the investigative powers of Congress, say the revelations reaffirm their long-held portrayal of Bill and Hillary Clinton as secretive and playing by their own rules. Democrats dismiss the accusations as trivial, but they were fast becoming a distraction for Clinton.
“The American people deserve all of the facts,” Republican House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday.
Congressman Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, intends to investigate whether Clinton, by using a personal e-mail account, may have violated federal requirements that written communications of officials are preserved.
Democrats question whether the e-mails will resonate with voters in an election 20 months away. But as the presidential nominating season begins, Clinton’s use of a personal e-mail account for State Department business has stoked questions about transparency that threaten to cloud her early steps as the Democratic Party’s overwhelming favorite White House prospect.
The subpoenas from the Republican-led Select Committee on the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, demanded additional material from Clinton and others, spokesman Jamal Ware said.
(The Associated Press)
