The Slatest

Clinton Wiped Copies of All Emails From Personal Server

Former Seceratary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the 10th National Automobile Dealers Association Convention on Jan. 27, 2014 in New Orleans.

Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton no longer has copies of the emails she sent when she was secretary of state, her lawyer acknowledged to a congressional committee. After the former secretary of state turned over government-related emails, the settings on the server were changed so that only emails from the last 60 days would be stored, her lawyer, David Kendall, said, according to the New York Times. “Thus, there are no hdr22@clintonemail.com emails from Secretary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state on the server for any review, even if such review were appropriate or legally authorized,” Kendall said in a letter to the House committee investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. The committee subpoenaed the server earlier this month. Clinton has “maintained and preserved copies” of work-related emails, according to Kendall, who did not make it clear whether they were kept in paper or digital form, notes CNN.

The committee had asked for the server to be examined by a third party that could then help determine which emails were personal and which should be considered government records. Yet that appears not to be a possibility any longer. “Secretary Clinton unilaterally decided to wipe her server clean and permanently delete all emails from her personal server,” Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, who chairs the House Benghazi committee, said in a statement.

Gowdy said Republicans would analyze what steps to take. “In light of the secretary’s unprecedented email arrangement with herself and her decision nearly two years after she left office to permanently delete all emails … we will work with the leadership of the House of Representatives as the Committee considers next steps,” he said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry has called on the State Department’s inspector general to review the agency’s record-keeping practices, reports the Associated Press. The review is going to include an examination of how emails are archived and how the State Department responds to Freedom of Information Act and congressional requests. Clinton’s work-related emails will be published on a website once they are reviewed, the State Department said on Friday.