House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) will seek to hold in contempt the IT firm that maintained Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot Poll: 51 percent of voters want to abolish the electoral college MORE’s private email server.

“[Platte River Networks] continues to obstruct the Science Committee’s investigation into the possible misuse of former Secretary Clinton’s private email server,” Smith said during a press conference on the matter Thursday.

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“The American people have a right to know what steps Clinton took to secure her communications with the president and others in government.”

Smith expects to bring the issue to a committee vote before the end of the year, noting that “we can take it up with leadership at another time.”

Smith’s committee had issued a subpoena to the Denver-based Platte River Networks and two other firms associated with Clinton’s server for information on the structure and security of the email system.

Platte River Networks failed to comply with repeated requests for information on Clinton’s email setup, arguing it did not have Clinton’s consent.

According to Smith, the committee obtained emails sent by attorneys representing the three firms requesting permission from Clinton’s attorneys to provide the subpoenaed materials — permission that was ultimately denied.

A batch of emails obtained under subpoena from data backup firm Datto, Inc., made public by the committee in September, does not include correspondence with Clinton’s lawyers.

“These emails reveal not only a smoking gun but who pulled the trigger. What is it that Secretary doesn’t want us to see? What is it that she’s hiding?” Smith asked.

“Clearly she is implicated because it is her attorney who is instructing the companies not to comply,” he said. “They should not be surprised by people concluding that they have something to hide if they’re not going to respond.”

Smith vowed that the investigation will continue into the next Congress.

Other committees investigating Clinton’s use of the server have turned to contempt as a means of enforcing their authority.

The House Oversight Committee recently voted on party lines to recommend that the House hold former State Department IT technician Bryan Pagliano in contempt of Congress.

Pagliano was responsible for setting up Clinton’s private email server during her tenure as secretary of State.

The former State Department employee declined to appear at several Oversight hearings, in spite of a subpoena demanding his presence.

Platte River Networks is also in the Oversight Committee’s sights for its role in deleting an archive of emails under congressional subpoena.