US House Republicans called for an immediate hearing Tuesday after the State Department announced on Monday that it had uncovered “multiple security incidents” involving over a dozen employees during Hillary Clinton’s time as Secretary of State.
In a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, Republicans Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows and Jody Hice said State Department officials who did an ongoing security review should testify before the lawmakers.
"We request a hearing to examine widespread security protocol breaches at the State Department concerning former Secretary Hillary Clinton’s private email server," the Republicans wrote, according to Fox News. "The unorthodox and unsecure arrangement she maintained exposed classified, national security and diplomatic-sensitive information to a myriad of risks and related issues.”
On Monday, the State Department announced that it had uncovered 23 “violations” and seven “infractions” regarding Clinton’s email server, which the former State Secretary had installed at her home. The emails leaked from the server effectively drowned Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016, allowing Trump to win the presidential race.
According to State Department assistant secretary Mary Elizabeth Taylor, 15 individuals were identified during the review as responsible for the incidents, “some of whom were culpable in multiple security incidents.”
Trump reacted to the announcement, calling it “really big,” and wondering whether the Democrats – who have been investigating Trump’s alleged wrongdoings – would also investigate Clinton.
Former House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, suggested that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should personally handle the probe into the allegations of Clinton team violations.
"I love Mike Pompeo as the secretary of state," he said. "I have the greatest respect for him, he's got his very full plate, but he has to personally get involved with this. Some people should be fired, they should lose their security clearances and they should be in jail."
The State Department said that the number of incidents and people involved may increase as the probe progresses. The department admitted that the sheer amount of Clinton emails demanded more time for reviewing than was initially anticipated.
"Given the volume of emails provided to the department from former Secretary Clinton's private email server, the department's process has been necessarily more complicated and complex requiring a significant dedication of time and resources," Taylor wrote.
A leaked trove of over 1,000 Clinton emails was published online during the 2016 presidential race. Democrats accused Russia of hacking Clinton’s server in order to boost then-candidate Trump. In the two years since Trump’s victory, the Dems have pursued ‘Russian collusion’ allegations in an attempt to delegitimize Trump.
