Gowdy: Clinton used special tool to wipe email server

Hillary Clinton’s lawyers used a special tool to delete emails from her personal server so that “even God can’t read them,” House Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy said on Thursday.

Gowdy (R-S.C.) said the use of BleachBit, computer software whose website advertises that it can “prevent recovery” of files, is further proof that Clinton had something to hide in deleting personal emails from the private email system she used during her tenure as secretary of state.


Clinton has long said that the deleted emails were all of a personal nature, relating largely to yoga and her daughter’s wedding, but Gowdy said he did not know whether the Democratic nominee considered emails pertaining to the Clinton Foundation to be personal. It’s a question he said he hopes reporters ask Clinton the next chance they get.

“She and her lawyers had those emails deleted. And they didn’t just push the delete button; they had them deleted where even God can’t read them,” Gowdy said Thursday morning during an interview on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” “They were using something called BleachBit. You don’t use BleachBit for yoga emails or bridemaids emails. When you’re using BleachBit, it is something you really do not want the world to see.”

The South Carolina congressman said Clinton’s previous statements, chiefly her disproved statement that she did not send or receive classified information on her private server, should inform whether or not the public believes her when she says Clinton Foundation donors were never granted special treatment by her State Department.

A screenshot of the BleachBit program. | BleachBit screenshot

Presented with audio from a Wednesday-night Clinton interview on CNN in which she said “there is a lot of smoke and there’s no fire,” Gowdy scoffed.

“It's arson. It's pyromania. It's not smoke. Even listening to her talk about the Clinton Foundation, I couldn't help but go back and remember the press conference she gave on her emails where every single thing she said proved to be false,” he said. “That’s the interesting thing about credibility and believability: You can't just keep it in one compartment. When you are a habitual, serial liar in this facet of life, it tends to make people not believe you in other facets of life. So when she’s talking about the Clinton Foundation, I go back and remember her saying there’s no classified information, I only used one device, I did it for convenience. All of which were proven to be false.”

On its website, BleachBit touted the mention from Gowdy in an orange box on its homepage, misquoting the congressman slightly as it sought to take advantage of the free media attention: "South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy says Hillary Clinton deleted emails 'so even God couldn't read them' using BleachBit."