The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing the security of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s private email system amid revelations about several messages containing classified information from multiple intelligence agencies.
The Washington Post reported that FBI officials over the past week have contacted the Denver-based technology firm Platte River Networks that helped manage Clinton’s personal system, according to two government officials.
Additionally, the FBI contacted Clinton attorney David Kendall regarding the security of the computer thumb drive in his possession that houses the 30,000 work-related emails that the former secretary of state turned over to the State Department earlier this year in the wake of reports that she exclusively used a private email system during her time there.
News of the FBI probe comes less than two weeks after intelligence community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough concluded that five Clinton emails out of a sample of 40 he was permitted to review contained classified information, a matter that he referred to the Department of Justice.
It has since been reported that the five emails contained "secret" information from five separate U.S. intelligence agencies.
Last week, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.) authored a letter to Kendall alleging that the former secretary of state’s emails that contained classified information could result in "serious consequences to national security." Johnson, who chairs Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also demanded answers regarding the security of the thumb drive containing the emails.
Kendall confirmed the FBI probe, explaining, "The government is seeking assurance about the storage of those materials. We are actively cooperating."
While Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill refused to comment specifically on the FBI inquiry, he insisted that Clinton "did not send nor receive any emails that were marked classified at the time."
"We want to ensure that appropriate procedures are followed as these emails are reviewed while not unduly delaying the release of her emails. We want that to happen as quickly and as transparently as possible," Merrill said.
Of the five emails identified as classified by McCullough, one contained information regarding the 2012 Benghazi attacks and was improperly made public by the State Department in the batch of 296 Clinton emails it released in May.
Despite subpoena orders from the House Select Committee on Benghazi, Kendall has refused to provide the panel with the emails contained on Clinton’s private server, claiming that the former secretary of state permanently wiped the system clean.