Reports: FBI Investigating Security of Clinton Emails

The FBI is looking into the security of the private email server that Hillary Rodham Clinton used when she was secretary of state, The Washington Post reported, NBC News confirmed Tuesday.

The newspaper also said the FBI has asked Clinton lawyer David Kendall about the security of a thumb drive, containing copies of Clinton's emails, that Kendall possesses.

The Post report cited two anonymous government officials, but said Kendall confirmed that the government was investigating the security of the devices.

Clinton's emails have been under scrutiny since it was revealed she used a private server in her Chappaqua, New York, home while she was the top U.S. diplomat. Government and congressional investigators have been trying to determine whether she sent or received classified information on unsecured email.

Last month, the inspector general of the U.S. intelligence community alerted the Justice Department about classified information included improperly on email that went through Clinton's home server. The referral to the Justice Department did not seek a criminal probe and did not specifically target Clinton.

The two officials cited by the Post also said that the FBI was not targeting her.

A spokesman for Clinton's presidential campaign tweeted Tuesday that that Post story "doesn't change anything ... IG sent ask to DOJ to confirm emails are secure."

"IG request was noncriminal & didnt accuse Clinton of wrongdoing," spokesman Brian Fallon tweeted. "FBI is 'not targeting her.'"

An FBI spokesman contacted Tuesday night by NBC News confirmed the agency is looking into the procedures used in the private Clinton server as the next step in the intelligence and State Dept. inspectors general referral to ascertain whether the emails were secure, adding that the investigation is "of a system and not a person."

State Department spokesman Mark Toner was asked last week whether the department would be "open" to having the FBI examine the thumb drive. "We've made sure that the documents at her lawyers' are in a secure setting, but I'm not going to speak to what the FBI should or shouldn't do," Toner responded.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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