Did Clinton Officials Obstruct Justice? House Oversight Asks Court For Review
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton Andrew Harnik/AP
By
Frank Konkel
Rep. Jason Chaffetz sent two letters calling for investigation of deleted emails.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, suggests in a letter today that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her cadre of officials may have purposely deleted emails and information under preservation orders and subpoena back in 2015.
The letter, addressed to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, requests a review of evidence “that may amount to obstruction of justice and destruction of evidence” by Clinton officials and associates, including Platte River Networks, the IT company that managed Clinton’s private email server.
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The company also received a letter today from Chaffetz demanding answers into the decision by an engineer to delete archives of Clinton’s emails “despite knowing those records were covered by preservation orders.”
Chaffetz’s latest email-related pursuit comes after the House oversight committee continued pushing over Clinton’s alleged email “spillage,” which suggested Clinton’s aides may have inadvertently had access to classified information. FBI Director James Comey decided in July not to bring formal charges against Clinton for her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, though he did say the culture at the State Department was “generally lacking in the kind of care for classified information that’s found elsewhere in the U.S. government.”
The House committee is also keeping its eyes on the potential misuse of private email by senior staff at the Homeland Security Department. In August, Chaffetz wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson scolding the agency for not complying with a previous request and threatened a subpoena.