Did Clinton Break Laws With Private Emails?

By Sky News US Team

Hillary Clinton may have violated federal records laws by using a personal email account for all of her work messages, The New York Times reported.

The newspaper said the former secretary of state and likely Democratic presidential candidate conducted all her official business during her four-year tenure at the State Department on a private email account.

She did not have a government email account during her stint.

Mrs Clinton stepped down as secretary of state in 2013. She has not formally entered the presidential race, but would be considered a front-runner if and when she does.

Federal law says letters and emails written and received by federal officials are government records that must be retained.

Regulations at the time Mrs Clinton served as secretary of state called for emails on personal accounts to be preserved as well.

The Times said most experts believed private email accounts should only be used for official government business in emergencies, for example if a department's server is down.

Mrs Clinton's practice raised issues of transparency, and Jeb Bush, a presidential hopeful for the Republicans, was quick to react.

"Transparency matters. Unclassified @HillaryClinton emails should be released. You can see mine, here. http://jebbushemails.com", he tweeted.

A spokesman for Mrs Clinton told the Times that Mrs Clinton was complying with the "letter and spirit of the rules".

Mrs Clinton recently handed over 55,000 pages of emails to the State Department in response to a department effort to comply with record-keeping practices, according to the Times.

Responding to the report, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the department last year asked former secretaries of state through their representatives to submit any records in their possession to improve record-keeping and management.

"In response to our request, Secretary Clinton provided the department with emails spanning her time at the department," Ms Harf said in a statement.