House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz is launching a congressional investigation into the government's record-keeping, and he's obtained new information that could put Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton right in the middle.
"The Oversight Committee has jurisdiction on the Federal Records Act, and we intend to pursue that," Chaffetz told Politico. "We also have jurisdiction on [the Freedom of Information Act], so if you're not providing emails, it begs the question of your compliance under FOIA. So, I'm not specifically trying to target the secretary, but when she creates her own private email system, she's ensnared herself."
House GOP leadership - Speaker Paul Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy - have stressed that they believe the FBI and Justice Department should continue handling the potential criminal investigation into Clinton's private email server, but Chaffetz said he plans to press on.
"I'm trying to be as cautious as I can. I don't think we should be any harder on her, but I don't think we should be any easier on her. It's bigger and broader than just Hillary Clinton," he told Politico.
"The FBI should pursue any violations and criminal allegations," Chaffetz said. "I would argue we also have jurisdictional prerogative on Federal Records Act and FOIA [matters]. We're being very cautious. I don't want to overstep, but we're also trying to move forward."
During Clinton's 2009-2013 tenure as secretary of state, she opted out of using a government-issued email account and instead decided to set up a private account and server in her New York home, which was not outfitted to handle classified information. She was required to turn over all work-related emails to the State Department upon leaving office. Without any oversight, she personally decided which emails were work-related, about 30,000 of them, and which could be deleted due to their personal nature, about 30,000 more, reported Slate.
"Look, there were 60,000 emails. She got to decide which ones were private and which ones went to State Department," Rep. Jim Jordan of the conservative House Freedom Caucus told Politico. "Then the State Department got to further screen. We have yet to learn the date parameters, search terms, who had the final say over which emails to make available as public records."
The State Department seems to be the worst offender in terms of using private emails to conduct government business, but Chaffetz says the problem also exists at the Department of Defense.
"Anybody who would use a non-government server to interact on government business is in violation. That's just been known for a long time, that is the law. [Clinton] is by no means the only violator," he said. "I'm still looking at it from 60,000 feet, and wondering who's violating it, how are they doing it and how do we get them to be in compliance. The inspectors general keep issuing reports, and we're not ignoring those."
The intelligence community inspector general has disclosed that Clinton's private server contained emails with information classified even higher than "top secret" – names of CIA spies and assets, classified sources and classified methods. Being that foreign governments and hackers have almost certainly hacked Clinton's server, the classified sources' lives were likely jeopardized, according to Fox News.
