Updated at 1:35 p.m. ET with a statement from the Justice Department and Benghazi Select Committee.
Donald Trump may be dominating headlines so far this election season, but today it's Hillary Clinton who's back in the spotlight. Last night The New York Times reported that two inspectors general for the state department and intelligence agencies have asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation to determine whether Clinton handled classified information on her personal email account, which she used while serving as Secretary of State. But on Friday the Justice Department clarified that though it had received a referral to open an investigation, it was not a criminal investigation.
Clinton's personal account has already been widely criticized as a major security risk. Now, in a memo provided to the Times, the inspectors write that the account also contained “hundreds of potentially classified emails.” That fact still remains unclear. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the inspectors general were specifically focused on four emails they say “were classified when they were sent and are classified now."
Earlier this year, Clinton defended the account, saying, "I’m certainly well aware of the classification requirements and did not send classified material.” She has since urged the State Department to release the emails. About 3,000 pages were made public in June, and though some of the emails have since been classified, the Times reports that none were classified during Clinton's tenure.
In response to the Times report, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, ranking member of the Benghazi Select Committee released the following statement: “I spoke personally to the State Department Inspector General on Thursday, and he said he never asked the Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation of Secretary Clinton’s email usage. Instead, he told me the Intelligence Community [inspector general] notified the Justice Department and Congress that they identified classified information in a few emails that were part of the FOIA review, and that none of those emails had been previously marked as classified. The Benghazi Select Committee has obtained zero evidence that any emails to or from Secretary Clinton were marked as classified at the time they were transmitted, although some have been retroactively classified since then. This is the latest example in a series of inaccurate leaks to generate false front-page headlines—only to be corrected later—and they have absolutely nothing to do with the attacks in Benghazi or protecting our diplomatic corps overseas.”
