Washington: Hillary Rodham Clinton wiped her e-mail server "clean", permanently deleting all e-mails from it, the Republican chairman of a House of Representatives committee investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya has said.
Rep Trey Gowdy said the former secretary of state has failed to produce a single new document in recent weeks and has refused to relinquish her server to a third party for an independent review, as Gowdy has requested.
Hillary, the presumptive frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, faced a deadline yesterday to respond to a subpoena for e-mails and documents related to Libya, including the 2012 attacks in a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the US ambassador to Libya. The attention to Clinton's use of a private e-mail account and server has threatened to become a distraction as she prepares to launch her campaign. Clinton's attorney, David Kendall, said Gowdy was looking in the wrong place.
In a six-page letter released late yesterday, Kendall said Hillary had turned over to the State Department all work-related e-mails sent or received during her tenure as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
"The Department of State is therefore in possession of all Secretary Clinton's work-related e-mails from the (personal e-mail) account," Kendall wrote.
Kendall also said it would be pointless for Hillary to turn over her server, even if legally authorised, since "no e-mails ... Reside on the server or on any backup systems associated with the server."
The Benghazi committee demanded further documents and access to the server after it was revealed that Hillary used a private e-mail account and server during her tenure at State.
Gowdy said he will work with House leaders to consider options. Speaker John Boehner has not ruled out a vote in the full House to force Hillary to turn over the server if she declines to make it available by an April 3 deadline set by Gowdy.
