Two GOP chairmen on Monday issued subpoenas to several technology vendors as part of an investigation into the security of Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Democratic super PAC to hit Trump in battleground states over coronavirus deaths Battle lines drawn on precedent in Supreme Court fight MORE’s private email server.

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Sen. Ron Johnson Ronald (Ron) Harold JohnsonGOP set to release controversial Biden report Democrats fear Russia interference could spoil bid to retake Senate The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by The Air Line Pilots Association - White House moves closer to Pelosi on virus relief bill MORE (R-Wis.), the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs chairman, and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) the House Science Committee chairman, sent out the subpoenas to three companies.

“The information being sought is a crucial step in bringing greater transparency to Secretary Clinton’s ‘extremely careless’ — I would call it dangerously reckless and grossly negligent — email practices,” said Johnson.

The three companies, which provided software and services to Clinton, have failed to comply with repeated requests for information on Clinton’s private email setup.

The committee is seeking to answer questions about the structure and security of the email system, including whether the cybersecurity measures employed met government standards.

The two chairman made initial requests separately in January and joined forces, merging their efforts into a single investigation, in July.

But the companies — a network security firm, an email services provider and a data backup provider — refused to turn over some information, arguing they did not have Clinton’s consent.

Democrats have already pushed back on the probe.

“I am outraged that the Chairman is recklessly abusing the Committee’s investigatory powers to brazenly do the bidding of the Trump campaign," Science Committee ranking member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) said in a statement Monday afternoon. "I am certain that the Science Committee will not uncover any ‘smoking gun’ after this issue has already been thoroughly investigated by the Benghazi Committee at a cost of $7 million in taxpayer dollars as well as by the FBI."

In February, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) suggested that the Science Committee probe had overstepped. He told reporters he believed those inquiries should have been under the purview of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, which investigated the attacks on U.S. facilities in the Libyan city.

“I have the same impression as you, that it would be [Rep. Trey Gowdy Harold (Trey) Watson GowdySunday shows preview: Election integrity dominates as Nov. 3 nears Tim Scott invokes Breonna Taylor, George Floyd in Trump convention speech Sunday shows preview: Republicans gear up for national convention, USPS debate continues in Washington MORE's (R-S.C.)] jurisdiction,” McCarthy said at the time, when asked whether Gowdy’s Benghazi panel should be overseeing the investigation. The panel issued its final report in June.

McCarthy also seemed to indicate that Smith hadn’t given the Republican leader a heads-up before sending the letters.

Republicans have hammered Clinton for exposing sensitive information to foreign hackers through her use of the unauthorized server. GOP candidate Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Trump dismisses climate change role in fires, says Newsom needs to manage forest better Jimmy Kimmel hits Trump for rallies while hosting Emmy Awards MORE has said he hopes Russian hackers accused of breaching the Democratic National Committee (DNC) also got the thousands of emails Clinton deleted from the account.

In his summary of the results of the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s use of the server — which did not result in charges — Director James Comey said it was “possible” her email was hacked by foreign adversaries.

Hostile actors were able to infiltrate the private commercial email accounts of people with whom Clinton was in regular contact from her personal account, Comey said. He also noted it was well-known that she used a personal domain and that she habitually used her personal email while “in the territory of sophisticated adversaries.”

“I hope the information we will obtain will inform policy changes that can prevent similar misconduct in the future,” Johnson said Monday.

-- Updated 4:49 p.m.