In one of the first official responses from Hillary Clinton to the brewing controversy over her use of personal email as secretary of state, Clinton’s attorney on Wednesday disputed the claim from a key Republican that she used multiple private email accounts while serving as the head of the State Department.
GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy, who chairs the House Select Committee on Benghazi, said at a press conference yesterday that Clinton used “more than one” private email account as secretary of state.
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But Clinton attorney David Kendall told the Select Committee in a statement Wednesday that she only used one email account while secretary of state, then switched to a new one after stepping down.
“Secretary Clinton used one email account when corresponding with anyone, from Department officials to friends to family. A month after she left the Department, Gawker published her email address and so she changed the address on her account,” Kendall said.
“At the time the emails were provided to the Department last year this new address appeared on the copies as the ‘sender,’ and not the address she used as Secretary. This address on the account did not exist until March 2103 [sic], after her tenure as Secretary,” he continued.
House Benghazi committee spokesman Jamal Ware responded by confirming that the committee has “records with two separate and distinct email addresses used by former Secretary Clinton and dated during the time she was Secretary of State. “
“Without access to the relevant electronic information and stored data on the server—which was reportedly registered to her home—there is no way the Committee, or anyone else, can fully explain why the Committee uncovered two email addresses,” Ware added.
At the White House Wednesday and Tuesday, Press Secretary Josh Earnest stopped short of saying definitively that Clinton had not violated federal records, but said it appeared she was in compliance. “If they did what they said they did,” he told reporters, “That would be consistent with the Federal Records Act.”
Clinton has faced criticism since the news reports revealed that she set up a private email server at her home and did not use an official email account, potentially to circumvent Freedom of Information Act requests.
Alex Seitz-Wald