Email controversy threatens expected Hillary Clinton candidacy

A growing controversy over Hillary Clinton’s use of personal email for work while she was US secretary of state could drag on for months, threatening to cloud the expected launch of the Democrat’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Ms Clinton tried to cool the brewing storm late on Wednesday, saying she wanted the state department to release the emails quickly. But a senior state department official said yesterday that the task would take time.

“The review is likely to take several months, given the sheer volume of the document set,” the official said.

That could dash any hopes Ms Clinton has of putting the controversy to rest quickly, and give Republicans plenty of time to focus on allegations that the use of personal email for official duties while secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 was inappropriate.

“I want the public to see my email,” Ms Clinton said in a tweet late on Wednesday. “I asked state to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible.”

The controversy has landed Ms Clinton in trouble just as she was planning to launch a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. It has prompted some Democrats to wonder whether someone else should be their candidate in the bid to succeed President Barack Obama.

A total of 55,000 pages of documents covering the time Ms Clinton was in office has been turned over, according to the state department. But Ms Clinton and her aides controlled that process, and the emails were not archived on government servers.

Subpoenas

Ms Clinton’s tweeted statement came hours after a congressional committee investigating the September 11th, 2012, attack on a US diplomatic facility in Benghazi,

Libya

, issued subpoenas for her emails. The US House of Representatives Select Committee on Benghazi demanded all communications from Ms Clinton related to the incident, in which a US ambassador was killed, and sent letters to internet companies telling them to protect relevant documents.

The committee's Republican chairman, Representative Trey Gowdy, of South Carolina, told reporters he wanted the documents within two weeks or a "really good explanation" for why not.

Actions scrutinised

Republicans have scrutinised Ms Clinton’s actions and communications regarding the Benghazi attack, in which ambassador

Chris Stevens

and three others were killed. Some Republicans believe she did not do enough to ensure the safety of Americans in Libya.

The email controversy could intensify longstanding Republican criticism of Ms Clinton's lack of transparency and ethics. The former first lady and US senator has been a lightning rod for Republican critics, dating back to the administration of her husband, former president Bill Clinton.

Ms Clinton is the strong favourite for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.

The state department has defended Ms Clinton, saying there was no prohibition at the time on using personal email for official business as long as it was preserved. Following a committee records request, Ms Clinton last year turned over emails from the period, and 300 were sent to the Benghazi committee, it added. But experts have called her use of personal email highly unusual and said it could have left her vulnerable to hacking. – (Reuters)