Hillary Clinton asks State Dept. to release her e-mails

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WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton has asked the State Department to disclose e-mails from her tenure as the nation's top diplomat, amid controversy over the use of a private account for government business.

"I want the public to see my email. I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible," Clinton said via Twitter shortly before midnight Wednesday, marking the first time she has commented publicly about the controversy.

Clinton's tweet came after a day of maneuvering over her use of a private e-mail system, which was first reported earlier this week by The New York Times. The former secretary of State has been widely reported as moving toward a 2016 presidential bid, and she is leading all early polls for the Democratic nomination.

Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking on a visit to Saudi Arabia, said the State Department is now reviewing those records for public release. "And we will undertake this task as rapidly as possible in order to make sure that we're dealing with the sheer volume of this in a responsible way, and we'll conclude it as soon as we can and get those released publicly."

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf has said repeatedly that the use of a non-governmental e-mail account was not prohibited at the time as long as Clinton maintained the records, Harf has said.

But a 2012 investigation into the U.S. ambassador to Kenya was sharply critical of his "use of commercial email in the office and his flouting of direct instructions to adhere to Department policy" on use of official e-mail. Unlike outside e-mail providers, the State Department's inspector general said, "the department e-mail system provides automatic security, record-keeping, and backup functions as required."

The ambassador, Scott Gration, later resigned.

Clinton reportedly used a private e-mail server installed in her home and her own Internet domain — clintonemail.com — to conduct public business during her tenure as Secretary of State. When the State Department requested that she return those government records, she provided the department with 55,000 pages of e-mails, the department has said.

But Republicans are demanding an independent investigation to review all her e-mails, not just the ones she "handpicked for release."

"Hillary Clinton must think we're all suckers. The fact Hillary Clinton set up a 'homebrewed' email system in her house to skirt federal recordkeeping regulations is a pretty good indicator of just how transparent she's interested in being," said Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short.

The House Select Committee on Benghazi on Wednesday already has about 300 pages of e-mails, and on Wednesday issued subpoenas for the rest to the State Department and to Clinton individually.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the chairman of the panel, said he has records with two different e-mail addresses used by Clinton, but the State Department said there is only one e-mail account and that the use of private e-mail was not prohibited during Clinton's four-year tenure.

The committee — which is investigating the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya — issued letters to unnamed Internet companies instructing them to preserve records relevant to the investigation.

Democrats on the committee said internal and congressional investigations have found no evidence to suggest that Clinton issued a "stand down" order during the consulate attack. "The quicker these emails can be made public, the sooner we can put these myths to rest once and for all," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Still, some Democrats are frustrated by what they see as Clinton's slow response to the controversy.

"However this turns out, this problem is being exacerbated by the lack of answers from the Clinton campaign or the nascent campaign," said David Axelrod, a former adviser to President Obama's 2008 campaign, in an interview with MSNBC.

"And it would be good to get out there and answer these questions, why did she use a separate email? How did she secure that email? Was there another email through which she communicated with people? By not answering these questions, they're allowing the story to fester in ways that are unhelpful."

Clinton has yet to form an exploratory committee to run for president. If she had a formal campaign operation in place, she might be able to more effectively answer questions, said Carol Fowler, a former chairwoman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, who backs Clinton's likely candidacy.

"I don't think this is going to have very long legs," Fowler said. "But she's a lot smarter than I am. If she believes this is the way to go about it, I'm not going to argue with her," she said. "We are just ready for her to get in. We want her to have a campaign."

Contributing: Catalina Camia and Fredreka Schouten. Follow @gregorykorte and @djusatoday on Twitter.