The Justice Department is being asked to open a criminal investigation into whether the State Department mishandled sensitive information, including how it is reviewing the tens of thousands of emails that were on Hillary Clinton’s personal server during her time as secretary of state, according to sources familiar with the probe.
The New York Times first reported late Thursday that inspectors general for the intelligence community and the State Department have asked the Justice Department to launch an investigation into Clinton’s possible mishandling of classified email. The Times significantly revised its story Friday to say the matter was referred to Justice to examine whether sensitive government information was mishandled in connection with Clinton’s account — but not necessarily by Clinton.
Sources confirmed both inspectors general have asked DOJ to open an investigation. The inspectors general are independent officials who conduct audits, investigations and inspections in the agencies for which they’re responsible.
No decision yet to launch probe
A Justice Department official confirmed that the department received a criminal referral but declined further comment. There has not yet been a decision on whether to launch a criminal probe.
The request for the Justice Department investigation came after a June 29 memo from the State Department’s inspector general stating a review of 55,000 pages of Clinton e-mails found “hundreds of potentially classified emails within the collection.”
A follow-up memo from both the State Department and intelligence community inspectors general to Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy on July 17 said they had received confirmation that “several of the emails contained classified (Intelligence Community) information, though they were not marked as classified. At least one of the emails has been released to the public” by the State Department. Officials were additionally concerned that possible classified material would be posted in future releases of Clinton’s emails.
Clinton’s use of the personal account for official business instead of a State Department one stirred up a political storm after news of it emerged in March.
Clinton has denied handling classified material on account
A Democratic presidential contender for 2016, Clinton has insisted that she never handled classified information on her private account.
“Contrary to the initial story, which has already been significantly revised, she followed appropriate practices in dealing with classified materials,” said Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill. “As has been reported on multiple occasions, any released emails deemed classified by the administration have been done so after the fact, and not at the time they were transmitted.”
The New York Times report said it was “not clear if any of the information in the emails was marked as classified by the State Department when Mrs. Clinton sent or received them.”
Nonetheless, the reported request for an inquiry is likely to renew fierce Republican criticism of Clinton’s email practices.
Already, GOP congressional leaders have attacked her.
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio released a statement calling on her to relinquish her server and questioning her judgment.
“If Secretary Clinton truly has nothing to hide, she can prove it by immediately turning over her server to the proper authorities and allowing them to examine the complete record,” he said.
“What these reports demonstrate is the inherent risk of conducting our nation’s diplomacy and foreign policy on your home email and personal server,” he continued. “Her poor judgment has undermined our national security.”
South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the Select Committee on Benghazi, echoed Boehner.
“The best — the only way — to resolve these important factual questions is for her to turn over her server to the proper authorities for independent forensic evaluation,” he said in a statement.
The top Democrat on the Benghazi Committee, however, pushed back on the attacks.
“I spoke personally to the State Department Inspector General on Thursday, and he said he never asked the Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation of Secretary Clinton’s email usage,” said Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings. “Instead, he told me the Intelligence Community IG notified the Justice Department and Congress that they identified classified information in a few emails that were part of the FOIA review, and that none of those emails had been previously marked as classified.”
Kerry asked for recommendations from inspector
The State Department in May began publicly releasing some of the tens of thousands of emails from the private account that Clinton handed over to it in December.
Officials from the department have been reviewing and redacting the huge collection of documents before putting them in the public domain.
Clinton has said she has nothing to hide and would like the process of making the emails public to be expedited.
Clinton’s successor as secretary of state, John Kerry, wrote to the State Department inspector general in March asking for recommendations on the department’s practices on document retention and its freedom of information process, a senior state department official told CNN.
“The Inspector General’s assistance is welcomed as we take efforts to improve our policies with respect to the preservation of records in a digital environment,” the official said.
