Her campaign said she no longer had access to those messages. The FBI is investigating whether Clinton disclosed any classified information in emails.
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Clinton has offered varying explanations for her use of a private email server, initially claiming she had done nothing wrong.
According to Johnson’s letter, Platte River employees expressed “confusion” after they discovered that Clinton’s server “was potentially being sent to Datto’s off-site location”.
Platte River has struggled to deal with the scrutiny it has received because of its relationship with Clinton.
In June 2013, after Clinton had left office, the server was moved from her Chappaqua, New York, home to a data center in northern New Jersey, where it was maintained by a Denver technology company, Platte River Networks, records show.
Platte River Networks was “explicitly asked by our client to keep all data onsite”, Andy Boian, a spokesman for the company, told the Washington Examiner. Datto believes it is possible; Platte River has said it is unlikely.
The employee indicates in the email that Clinton’s team asked them to change the back-up duration between October and February, presumably of 2014/2015, though that isn’t explicitly stated in the portion of the email included in Johnson’s letter.
‘Despite these communications, it is unclear whether or not this course of action was followed, ‘ Johnson wrote.
In one exchange, a Platte River employee working on the Clinton account discusses with a colleague whether there was a written record of a “directive to cut the backup”.
This is the latest step in the search for any emails that might be missing from the collection turned over by Clinton. As is the dubious fashion these days with celebrities and prominent people, Clinton has publicly apologized for using a private email system while Secretary of State.
It was here that the Platte River employee voiced suspicions about a cover-up and sought to protect the company.
[ Justice Department attorney Marcia ] Berman called that “an incredibly novel legal theory” and she said it was foreclosed by a 1980 Supreme Court decision that held FOIA could not be used to obtain near-transcripts of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s phone conversations.
So Hillary Clinton directed her IT firm to delete backups after already under investigation, having been requested to turn over her emails to the State Department, and having evaded many FOIA requests.
Datto, based in Norwalk, also provided no immediate comment. They were especially concerned that hackers might have targeted the Clinton server after its existence became a major news story several months ago.
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State Department spokesman John Kirby referred questions about the computer servers to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Furthermore, we asked the IG to incorporate this matter into the review Secretary Kerry requested in March”. Investigators want to know “how top secret material was sent to Clinton’s private email by State Department aides”.
