Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Friday that the State Department's revelation that 22 of Hillary Clinton's emails contained top secret information "removed all doubt that she cannot be trusted with the presidency."
"Hillary Clinton's attempt to skirt government transparency laws by relying exclusively on an unsecure email server in her basement put our national security and diplomatic efforts at risk," Priebus said. "And rather than tell the American people the truth, Hillary Clinton, her campaign, and her friends in the Obama administration have obfuscated and misled at every available opportunity.
"If this isn't disqualifying, I don't know what is."
The White House said for the first time that the emails with the closely held
government secrets were on Clinton's unsecured home server.
The State Department said that its security and intelligence operations would investigate whether any of the information was classified at the time of transmission — going to the heart of one of Clinton's primary defenses of her email practices.
The revelation comes just three days before the Iowa caucuses. Clinton is on the Democratic slate.
"These revelations once again raise serious legal questions given the fact Hillary Clinton signed a legally binding agreement obligating her to protect classified material regardless of whether it was marked," Priebus said. "Democrats will have to decide whether they really want to nominate a candidate who could face severe legal repercussions in the middle of the campaign and who has so brazenly violated the public trust with her reckless disregard for our national security."
Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton called Clinton's use of the personal email account was not "just negligent" but "completely dangerous.
"Housing top-secret emails on an unsecure, personal server put our national security at grave risk," said Cotton, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Did our enemies hack these emails? And were lives put at risk as a result?
"To put our country in danger for personal convenience is arrogant and irresponsible — and it's illegal," he said. "She should face the same consequences that any federal employee who behaved similarly would face, including criminal prosecution."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.