Federal officials on Friday confirmed they have been asked to investigate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of State, deepening the political controversy surrounding the 2016 Democratic frontrunner.
Clinton and her team fiercely pushed back at reports that two inspector generals have asked the Justice Department to look into whether sensitive information was mishandled in connection with her private account.
“Maybe the heat is getting to everybody,” Clinton quipped during an economic address in New York City in which she decried “inaccuracies” in the reports.
But the reports gave a new opening to congressional Republicans, who seized the opportunity to renew their calls that Clinton hand over her personal server as part of their investigation in the deadly terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya.
The news overshadowed an economic address by Clinton in New York City, and accentuated a challenging week for her campaign marked by a new poll showing her losing head-to-head matchups with three top GOP White House contenders in the swing states of Virginia, Colorado and Iowa.
Republicans have used the revelation that Clinton used a private server as secretary of State to hammer her as untrustworthy, and that’s an issue where polls suggest she is vulnerable.
This week’s poll by Quinnipiac showed strong majorities of voters in Iowa, Virginia and Colorado — three swing-states Democrats hope to win — do not find her honest and trustworthy. The margin in the Colorado poll against her was almost 2-1.
The new email troubles started late Thursday, when The New York Times reported that two inspectors general have asked the Justice Department to determine “whether sensitive government information was mishandled in connection with the personal email account” of Clinton.
A second report by The Wall Street Journal on Friday said the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community told Congress in a letter that at least four emails out of a small sampling of 40 from her Clinton’s server should have been classified as "secret."
Clinton argued the reports were misleading, and media outlets backtracked on an initial report that watchdogs had requested a “criminal probe,” something Justice said was incorrect.
“We all have a responsibility to get this right, I have released 55,000 pages of emails, I have said repeatedly that I will answer questions in front of the House committee,” Clinton said at her address in New York, where she outlined a tax plan and endorsed New York’s move toward a $15 minimum wage.
