US News

Congress will probe Hillary Clinton’s emails

A congressional committee will review whether Hillary Rodham Clinton violated federal law by using a personal e-mail account to conduct government business as secretary of state, it was announced Tuesday.

And another committee already investigating the possible presidential candidate said Clinton used more than one personal account.

House Oversight Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said his panel will join with the committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack in reviewing whether Clinton broke any disclosure laws.

“Violations of the Federal Records Act within federal agencies is something we take very seriously,” Chaffetz said. “The House Oversight Committee will work with Mr. [Trey] Gowdy and the Select Committee on Benghazi to further explore Hillary Clinton’s use of personal e-mails while at the State Department.”

Clinton, still facing fallout from the attack on the diplomatic outpost Benghazi, Libya, that killed US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three security aides, is under fire for the e-mail controversy.

“She used personal e-mail in lieu of government e-mail,” Benghazi committee chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) said. “In other words, she only used private e-mail accounts. And she had more than one private e-mail account.”

Critics said that by using a personal e-mail address, Clinton may have breached security and broken disclosure laws.

Not only did Clinton send and receive tens of thousands of e-mails from the unregulated address, she was never during her four-year tenure as secretary of state issued an official government account with which to communicate.

While a spokesman said she was following the “letter and spirit of the rules,” the controversy, if nothing else, has emboldened critics, including potential Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, who tweeted his displeasure.

“Transparency matters,” Bush said. “Unclassified @HillaryClinton emails should be released. You can see mine, here. http://jebbushemails.com.”

At least one Washington insider said the scandal is overblown.

“Using your personal e-mail was very common practice in previous administrations,” said an operative who knows the Clintons.