Naturally, both sides are trying to spin the news to suit their own ends. The head of the committee, Rep. Trey Gowdy, is portraying this as an attempt to block anyone from trying to "check behind her analysis" and see if she deleted important conversations. Committee member Rep. Elijah Cummings, meanwhile, calls the server request a "political charade" and wants the on-the-record messages made public as proof that Clinton is squeaky clean. The problem is that there's no practical way to verify the truth, no matter who's right -- officials have to take it on faith that Clinton followed the letter of the law and delivered all the messages related to her political life.

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