House Committee Vows to Pursue Hillary's Private Emails

Rep. Lamar Smith is pushing ahead in his committee's effort to hold Hillary Clinton accountable for her private e-mail server while she was secretary of state.

On Thursday, Smith, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, announced that he is going to hold the Platte River Networks, which set up and maintained Clinton’s server, in contempt of Congress when lawmakers return to Washington following the November election.

“Platte River continues to obstruct our committee’s investigation into the possible misuse security of former Secretary Clinton’s private e-mail server,” Smith told a packed press conference on Capitol Hill."

Smith recalled how congressional subpoenas for documents were issued earlier this year to the three companies responsible for the private server Clinton used while secretary of state from 2009-12. While Datto (the company that backed up the server) and SECNAP (which secured the server) complied with the subpoenas, he said, “Platte River continues to refuse to comply at the direction of Secretary Clinton.”

“Regrettably, former Secretary Clinton has interfered with the Committee’s investigation,” Smith told reporters. “What is it that Former Secretary Clinton doesn't want us to see? What is she hiding?”

The Texas lawmaker went on to detail how David Kendall, the Clintons’ long-time private counsel, “is coordinating and approving what materials are produced to the Science Committee through the companies’ attorneys. Last month, Kendall sent a letter to the committee that declared certain materials would not be produced.”

When pressed on whether  he intended to subpoena a potential “President-elect Clinton” to testify when his committee reconvenes in November, Smith replied: “This investigation is entirely separate from presidential politics. It is about security and whether the server could have been penetrated.”

The House Science Committee oversees the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which sets the standards for government officials’ use of servers. The materials that are being subpoenaed also fall under committee jurisdiction over cybersecurity standards that are contained in the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014.

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.