Hillary Clinton violated State Department rules in effect since 2005 when she used a personal email account to conduct government business during her years as Secretary of State.
The State Department policy specifically warns agency officials from using personal email accounts to conduct governmental work, according to Politico .
A senior government official tells ABC News the State Department policy in effect during Hillary Clinton’s time at the agency allowed employees to use private email for official business only if those employees turned over the emails so they could be entered into a government database. Until the emails are placed into the database, an employee is in violation of the “clear cut” policy, making Clinton in violation of the rule for nearly six years. Until she turns over all business-related emails, the former Secretary of State remains in violation.
Although Hillary may have been in violation of State Department policy, it is still unclear whether she personally violated federal law by using a personal email account versus a governmental account. According to CNN, the National Archives and Records Administration issued guidance in 2009 in accordance with the Federal Records Act that did not prohibit use of personal email.
“Agencies that allow employees to send and receive official electronic mail messages using a system not operated by the agency must ensure that federal records sent or received on such systems are preserved in the appropriate agency recordkeeping system.”
Late last year, President Obama signed an update to the Federal Records Law that restricts government personnel to only using personal email accounts if the employee will copy or forward the email to their government account within 20 days. However, Hillary Clinton was no longer Secretary of State when the President signed the update.
Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email account to conduct agency business came to light Monday. According to the New York Times , the former Secretary of State did not maintain a government email. Her aides took no steps to ensure her emails were preserved on State Department servers. Two months ago, her advisers turned over 55,000 emails to the State Department.
As the Inquisitr previously reported, late Wednesday night, the former Secretary of State tweeted she wants the public to see the emails and she has asked the State Department to release them.
I want the public to see my email. I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 5, 2015
The controversy surrounding Clinton’s use of a private email account comes as the former first lady is expected to announce a 2016 presidential bid .
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