A former State Department IT technician who set up Hillary Clinton's private email server in her home may face criminal charges for avoiding multiple subpoenas to testify on Clinton's email server.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter on Thursday to Attorney General Jeff Session asking that Bryan Pagliano be charged for ignoring multiple subpoenas requesting that he testify before the Oversight Committee.
Pagliano was responsible for managing Clinton's private server and also served as a senior adviser to the former secretary of state.
"Because Pagliano's job functions included supporting mobile computing issues across the department, he was uniquely positioned to answer questions regarding State Department policies and practices for preserving records, as well as the technological procedures utilized to do so," Chaffetz wrote.
The Republican from Utah noted that Pagliano's testimony would have allowed the Oversight Committee to more fully do its job investigating Clinton's private server.
"There is no legal basis for Pagliano's refusal to appear before the committee," Chaffetz said. "In light of Pagliano's contumacious conduct in refusing to testify, the department should bring the matter before a grand jury for its action or file an information charging Pagliano with violating 2 U.S.C. § 192."
Violation of 2 U.S.C. § 192, which allows Congress to subpoeana witnesses, could result in a fine between $100 and $1,000 and a prison sentence of one month to one year, according to the New York Post.
Pagliano, who worked on Clinton's failed 2008 presidential campaign, refused to appear twice before the oversight panel, invoking his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself. The Republican-controlled Oversight Committee voted in September to hold him in contempt of Congress.
Chaffetz has so far refused to probe Michael Flynn's resignation as President Trump's national security adviser and the administration's alleged ties to Russia.
The top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D., Md.), said that charging Pagliano would be a waste of time and resources.
"The Oversight Committee can't afford to be distracted by political vendettas against Hillary Clinton while our constituents are begging us to conduct responsible oversight of President Trump," Cummings said in a statement.