America
Hillary Clinton runs into rough weather over emails
By
By Arun KumarWashington, July 25
Democratic 2016
presidential contender Hillary Clinton ran into a new political storm
over the use of a private server for sending official emails with
reports suggesting that some emailed material contained classified
information.
The inspector general for the intelligence community
had informed US Congress that some material emailed from the former
secretary of state's private server contained classified information,
but it was not identified that way, CNN reported.
The IG reviewed
a "limited sampling" of her emails and among those 40 reviewed found
that "four contained classified (intelligence community) information",
IG Charles McCullough was quoted as saying in a letter to Congress.
The four emails in question "were classified when they were sent and are classified now", spokeswoman Andrea Williams told CNN.
McCullough
said that State Department Freedom of Information Act officials told
the intelligence community IG that "there are potentially hundreds of
classified emails within the approximately 30,000 provided by former
Secretary Clinton".
Clinton on Friday criticised what she called "a lot of inaccuracies" in reports about the classified emails.
She
added that she had released 500 pages of emails and that "I've said
repeatedly that I will answer questions" posed by a Congressional panel.
"But
I'm also going to stay focused on the issues, particularly the big
issues that really matter to American families," she said.
In the past, Clinton has denied sending classified information from her personal sever.
Meanwhile
Justice Department issued a statement correcting earlier reports that a
probe into emails from Clinton's server during her time as secretary of
state was a criminal investigation.
Instead, a Justice
Department official said that the agency had "received a referral
related to the potential compromise of classified information".
CNN
cited sources as confirming both inspectors general have asked the
justice department to open an investigation. But there has not yet been a
decision on whether to launch a criminal probe.
Following the
new report, several Republican leaders renewed their attacks on Clinton
with House Speaker John Boehner calling on her to relinquish her server
and questioning her judgment.
"If Secretary Clinton truly has
nothing to hide, she can prove it by immediately turning over her server
to the proper authorities and allowing them to examine the complete
record," he said.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])