Emails Deleted, Blackberries Smashed: Fed. Prosecutor Sought in Clinton Scandal

The leader of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is pushing for new action in the investigation of Hillary Clinton's email practices as the FBI's latest revelations fuel new questions.

Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, asked a federal prosecutor Tuesday to determine if Clinton or others working with her had any part in the deletion of thousands of her emails by a Colorado technology firm.

The firm, Platte River Networks, oversaw her private computer server in 2015.

Chaffetz wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Channing Phillips, asking the Justice Department to investigate to "determine whether Secretary Clinton or her employees and contractors violated statutes that prohibit destruction of records, obstruction of congressional inquiries and concealment or cover up of evidence material to a congressional investigation."

In another letter, Chaffetz warned Platte River Networks that the engineer who deleted Clinton's emails last year could face federal charges, including obstructing justice and destroying evidence.

"The bottom line is these documents were destroyed and they were records under subpoena," Chaffetz told The Associated Press. "Secretary Clinton has fought this every step of the way. The election should not slow down this probe."

Clinton and her longtime aide and lawyer, Cheryl Mills, told the FBI that they did not know about the deleted emails.

Clinton referred to Chaffetz's outline of the deleted emails as "his latest conspiracy theories."

"The FBI resolved all of this," she told reporters Tuesday on her flight to an appearance in Tampa, Florida. "Their report answered all of the questions."

The attorney for Platte River Networks declined to comment, and Mills' attorney was not immediately available to discuss Chaffetz's letters with reporters.

Meanwhile, in an unusual move, the FBI released documents Friday related to its investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State.

According to the AP, the FBI report reveals actions on the part of Clinton's staff that appear to have the goal of preventing deleted information from being recovered, actions that included using a hammer to smash her old Blackberry smartphones and erasing one of her hard drives with special software.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and GOP allies have called for the appointment of an independent prosecutor.

One former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Andrew McCarthy III, is calling for Clinton to be impeached.

McCarthy, a contributing editor of National Review, wrote for the magazine, "Impeach Clinton to Bar Her from Holding Federal Office. It's Constitutional."

"The proceeding against Clinton would not be a presidential impeachment; it would be an impeachment based on her abuses of power as secretary of state, which would have the constitutional effect of disqualifying her for the presidency," McCarthy wrote.

"Note carefully: The Constitution does not say the impeached person must be a current officeholder," he continued.