Hillary Rodham Clinton admitted Saturday that she privately paid a State Department staffer on the side to maintain the homebrew e-mail server she used while head of the agency.

The confidential arrangement, first revealed by The Washington Post, helped Clinton keep personal control over the server.

The revelations about Clinton’s off-the-books staffer Bryan Pagliano only thickened the cloud of secrecy surrounding the server, which is being probed by the State Department and FBI for security and criminal breaches.

Pagliano plans to plead the Fifth if asked to testify. He did not disclose the outside income, as required by law, the Washington Post said.