Hillary Clinton maintains emails were not marked classified at the time they were sent. | Getty Second State employee refuses GOP questions on Clinton server John Bentel is a former employee who managed IT security issues.

A State Department staffer who oversaw security and technology issues for Hillary Clinton is refusing to answer Senate investigators’ questions about the former secretary of state’s use of a private email server — marking the second time an ex-State employee has declined to talk to lawmakers.

John Bentel, a now-retired State employee who managed IT security issues for the top echelon at the department, declined to be interviewed by GOP staff on the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO.


The chairmen of both committees, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), are now threatening to consider other ways to compel him to discuss the matter.

“We are troubled by your refusal to engage with the committees even after repeated overtures of accommodation,” the letter to Bentel and his lawyer reads. “We need to speak with you. … We would, of course, prefer that you meet with us in a voluntary and informal manner, but we will consider other options if faced with a continuing lack of cooperation.”

Bentel’s lawyer, Randy Turk of Baker Botts in Washington, did not reply to a request for comment, but the recent letter notes that Bentel told House Benghazi investigators last year he did not recall the server matter, according to the Senate letter. And in email correspondence between the panel and Bentel's laywer, which was reviewed by POLITICO, Turk lamented that Bentel had already talked to the House Benghazi panel “about precisely what the committtees’ letter states is the subject of their investigation.”

“Mr Bentel… is understandably not inclined to go through that process again since he has already been questioned at great length about what he knows and what he recalls about that subject,” Turk wrote to Senate investigators in an email last Thursday. "[I]t seems to me that what is really fair here would be for you and the committees to respect Mr Bentel’s decision not to be interviewed a second time about the same subjects he has already been interviewed about at great length."

As Clinton continues battling with Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination, this latest missive from Grassley and Johnson shows that the email scandal isn’t going away. Republican investigations into the server will continue through the spring, if not longer, as the FBI conducts its own investigation into whether classified information was mishandled by Clinton’s setup — a probe that is ongoing but could wrap up as soon as this summer. The campaign did not respond to request for comment for this story.

Bentel is now the second former State staffer to decline an interview request from congressional investigators. Last year, Clinton’s top IT staffer, Bryan Pagliano, who personally maintained her server at State, also refused to answer questions. He asserted his Fifth Amendment right before the House Benghazi Committee last September and rebuffed Judiciary and Homeland requests for interviews for their investigations.

Pagliano, who worked for Clinton on the campaign trail before following her to State, was recently reported to have been granted immunity from the FBI so he can discuss the email issue without fear of prosecution.

Law enforcement is investigating whether Clinton’s unusual setup ever put classified information at risk — or whether anyone unlawfully forwarded classified intelligence to her unsecured account. State has discovered more than 2,000 classified emails that passed through the server, including about two dozen that were “top secret.” Clinton maintains they were not marked classified at the time they were sent.

The Senate committees are also investigating the issue, though with a slightly different focus. While also probing the security of the server, the panels are questioning whether Clinton or her top staff ever intentionally sidestepped record-keeping laws under the Freedom of Information Act. That law requires all emails from public officials that mention work issues to be preserved and available for public request.

The FOIA question is also being litigated through federal courts, where conservative group Judicial Watch just won a major victory after a judge approved the group’s request to question Clinton’s closest staffers about whether they were intentionally hiding correspondence.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Bentel joined State in 1974. He served as director of information resources management in the office of the executive secretariat, which includes the secretary and top staff as well as the deputy secretary and undersecretaries. The office also handles State’s relations with the White House, National Security Council and other agencies.

His position, according to the letter, would have made him responsible for Clinton’s information management and information technology needs, including perhaps her BlackBerry use.

On Dec. 4, 2015, Judiciary and Homeland investigators reached out to Bentel’s lawyer to schedule an interview. But Turk told them Bentel had already been asked about the matter when he sat before the House Benghazi Committee. Turk said Bentel told the committee he had “no memory of knowledge” of the server issue and there was “little point” in telling another committee the same thing, according to the letter.

But both Senate panels say Bentel may have been aware of the sever, noting that their investigators have been told that some of Bentel’s subordinates knew about the home setup: “It appears that you were an integral figure in the operations of the Executive Secretariat and that you would have particular and unique knowledge relevant to the committees’ inquiry. Indeed, Department personal have noted that your subordinates in the Executive Secretariat’s office, who reported directly to you, had knowledge of Secretary Clinton’s private email server, which leads one to conclude that you were likely made aware of the server.”

The panels also want to ask Bentel about how FOIAs were handled in the office of the executive secretariat.

State Department spokesperson John Kirby said in a statement that the Department "is committed to transparency and has been working closely with the staffs of Senators Grassley and Johnson, providing documents, briefings, and interviews on a regular basis in response to their numerous requests.” Since Bentel is no longer there but retired, however, the department cannot require him to answer questions.

After Turk initially rebuffed the panel’s request last winter, the committee continued to try to convince him that speaking to Bentel was necessary and offered to do a phone interview since he no longer lives in Washington, D.C.

“It is worth noting that the committees’ line of questioning would most certainly be different from the Benghazi Committee, since the respective committees are examining different issues,” they wrote.

Their last communication on Jan. 20, 2016, however, went unanswered until last week, when his lawyer reiterated that he was unwilling to answer questions.

“We have spoken to Mr. Bentel and there has been no change in what we have told you previously on several occasions now, both on the phone and in several emails, in response to your prior requests to interview him,” Turk said in the Thursday email to the committee.

