Republicans Subpoena Clinton Emails

Washington (AFP) - Republicans issued subpoenas demanding Hillary Clinton's emails from her time as secretary of state, the latest glancing blow to a leading 2016 contender likely to enter the presidential ring.Alarm bells sounded earlier this week when it was learned that Clinton exclusively used a private account for her work emails while serving as President Barack Obama's top diplomat.Her actions have opened a potential legal quagmire, with accusations that she violated federal record-keeping rules.But it also raised questions about what might have motivated Clinton to not use a federal government email account making her correspondence part of the public record, and prompted critics to argue the presumptive Democratic White House frontrunner was seeking to evade scrutiny.The special House committee set up to investigate the deadly terror attacks on the US mission in Benghazi issued subpoenas "for all communications of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton related to Libya," committee spokesman Jamal Ware said in a statement.The committee also sent "preservation letters" to Internet firms demanding they protect all relevant documents."We're going to get them," committee chairman Trey Gowdy told reporters of the emails."We have to go to the source, which would be secretary Clinton herself."Clinton had no federal government email address during her four years at State, and aides did not seek to preserve her emails on department servers at the time, according to The New York Times, which first reported the story.The emerging scandal puts Clinton in an awkward bind, with Republicans rushing to denounce the actions and Democrats hesitant about how to defend the woman seen as their party's leading White House hope.Many Democratic lawmakers declined to comment about what some critics have already begun to call "emailgate.""I wouldn't know" how the scandal might impact Clinton should she mount a presidential run, veteran House Democrat John Lewis demurred.- 'Ethical problem' -Clinton has remained publicly silent on the issue. But several of her Republican potential 2016 rivals have pounced, including Jeb Bush who tweeted that "unclassified Hillary Clinton emails should be released."Former Texas governor Rick Perry, who has made no secret of his interest in a presidential bid, suggested the latest episode was part of a trend toward stonewalling."There's a pattern here of non-transparency," Perry told Fox News."It's an ethical problem that she's going to have to address."Congressman Elijah Cummings, the Benghazi panel's ranking Democrat, expressed outrage that Gowdy might be conducting a "fishing expedition" against the former first lady."Everything I've seen so far has led me to believe that this is an effort to go after Hillary Clinton.