House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte called on the State Department's inspector general Thursday to investigate why the agency hired a pair of lawyers from Williams and Connolly, the law firm representing Hillary Clinton, to handle Freedom of Information Act requests for her emails.

Catherine Duval and Austin Evers, the two lawyers, had no prior experience handling FOIA requests or classified document productions, the Virginia Republican said.

"At the very least, this suspect arrangement raises questions about the State Department hiring process," Goodlatte wrote to Steven Linick, the agency's inspector general.

"At worst, it suggests willful obstruction by handpicked Clinton associates at the State Department on behalf of former Secretary Clinton, to ensure damaging or incriminating documents never saw the light of day," he added.

Documents first given to Congress and later made public by the FBI this week suggest several witnesses told investigators that high-level agency officials attempted to influence the FOIA review process.

Patrick Kennedy, the State Department's undersecretary for management, was cited by multiple witnesses as the instigator of an ultimately unsuccessful bid to trade favors for the declassification of a Benghazi-related email that had been upgraded to the "secret" level by the FBI.

The State Department and Kennedy himself denied that discussions of "quid pro quo" ever took place.

However, the now-retired FBI agent, who was accused of seeking approval for an FBI presence in Iraq in exchange for consideration of Kennedy's request, confirmed to reporters this week that the discussions did occur.

John Kirby, a State Department spokesman, defended the agency's decision to hire two former Williams & Connolly attorneys.

"As we have said before, the mere fact of previously working at a firm does not in itself constitute a conflict of interest," Kirby said. "Williams & Connolly is a large firm, and we are not aware that any counsel working on Clinton-related oversight matters at the Department did so prior to joining the Department. Kate Duval and Austin Evers are exceptional professionals, and the Department and Secretary Kerry have full trust and confidence in their work at the Department."