Clinton's statement was aimed at cooling a political firestorm
over allegations that she inappropriately used her personal email
for work while secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
"I want the public to see my email," the potential 2016 presidential
candidate said in a tweet. "I asked State to release them. They said
they will review them for release as soon as possible."
The controversy has suddenly put Clinton into trouble just as she is
planning to launch a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination
in 2016. It has prompted some Democrats to wonder whether someone
else should be their candidate to succeed President Barack Obama.
The State Department said it will review the emails provided by
Clinton "using a normal process that guides such releases."
"We will undertake this review as quickly as possible. Given the
sheer volume of the document set, this review will take some time to
complete," spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Mar/05/images/ads/current/humanesociety_sda022411.png) Clinton's tweeted statement came hours after a congressional
committee investigating the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on a U.S.
diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, issued subpoenas for her
emails.
The U.S. House of Representatives' Select Committee on Benghazi
demanded all communications from Clinton related to the incident, in
which a U.S. ambassador was killed.
The panel also sent letters to Internet companies telling them to
protect any documents relevant to the ongoing investigation, Jamal
Ware, communications director for the Benghazi committee, said in a
statement.
Representative Trey Gowdy, the Republican chairman of the Benghazi
panel, told reporters that within two weeks, he must either have the
documents or a "really good explanation" for why not.
Republicans have been scrutinizing Clinton's actions and
communications surrounding the Benghazi attack, when Ambassador
Chris Stevens and three others were killed during an assault on a
U.S. facility. Republican lawmakers believe she did not do enough to
ensure the safety of Americans in Libya.
Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi
committee, said the Republicans' actions have led him to believe
they simply want to attack Clinton. He noted that Colin Powell, the
secretary of state under former President George W. Bush, a
Republican, had used personal emails.
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The email controversy appears to have caught the Clinton camp off
guard when it erupted.
In an appearance in Washington on Tuesday night, Clinton avoided the
topic altogether in a 30-minute speech at a gala dinner for the
Emily's List political organization.
The State Department has defended Clinton, saying that at the time
there was no prohibition on using a personal email account for
official business as long as it was preserved.
But experts have called her use of personal email highly unusual and
that her practise possibly left her communications open to hacking.
The State Department said Clinton last year turned over emails from
the period after a records request and that 300 of these were sent
to the Benghazi committee.
A total of 55,000 pages of material covering the time she was in
office were turned over, the agency said.
Jason R. Baron, a lawyer at Drinker Biddle & Reath who is a former
director of litigation at the National Archives and Records
Administration, said he believed "the sole use of a private email
account by a high-level official to transact government business is
plainly inconsistent with the Federal Records Act and longstanding
policies of the National Archives."
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Curtis Skinner; Editing by Nick
Macfie)
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