Republicans and Democrats in Congress threw blames at each other over the Hillary Clinton emails in which the former secretary of state used private email service while holding office. Reps. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) squabbled Sunday over allegations that the secret information on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s personal email server was more highly classified than previously understood.
Lankford says Clinton emails constitute security threat
Lankford, a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, and a Republican said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” that the presence of highly classified information known from “special access programs” (SAP) on her private server, which was reported last week by the Intelligence Community Inspector General, “absolutely represents a security threat.” “There are about 13,040 emails that we know about so far that had classified information,” he said. “it is a major risk to have this kind of information outside a government server.”
Schiff accuse Republicans of attempt to damage Hillary
Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the intelligence committee, dismissed the allegations of James Lankford as trumped-up charges designed to damage Clinton’s presidential campaign ahead of upcoming primaries and caucuses in early voting states. “When you read this emails, you can see why there would a difference of opinion between the State Department and the Justice Department about whether these should be marked classified,” he said. “I think, given that none of these were marked classified at the time, there’s no reason when you read the contents, I believe, for the secretary to believe that these should be marked classified,” Schiff continued.
Democrats accuse Republicans of using the Inspector General
According to Fox News, Schiff argued that several Republican committee chairmen are investigating Clinton’s use of the private email system while “actively campaigning” against her. “I think the inspector general has to be very careful not to allow himself to be used by one political party against the other in a presidential race,” Schiff said.
Lankford said the complaints from the Clinton campaign are part of the “whole Clinton procedure of trying to attack the messenger, [saying] he must be part of the vast right wing conspiracy.” “The inspector general is an Obama appointee and he is doing his job,” Lankford continued. “He’s been asked by the committee to keep the members up to date and that’s what he’s doing.”
