WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday said Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton should "come clean" and turn over her private email server to the State Department's inspector general.
At least four emails from the account used by Clinton while she was secretary of state contained classified information, according to a government watchdog. Clinton has said she did not send or receive any secret information using that account, but Boehner cast doubt on this.
"Despite evidence to the contrary, Secretary Clinton continues to maintain that she never had classified emails. Now let's not be foolish," Boehner told reporters at a regular news conference.
"She knows exactly how classifying materials works. At this point the best thing for Mrs. Clinton to do is to come clean and just turn the server over to the IG (inspector general) at the State Department."
Clinton's use of her private email account linked to a server in her New York home for her work as America's top diplomat came to light in March and drew fire from political opponents who accused her of sidestepping transparency and record-keeping laws.
The inspector general who oversees U.S. intelligence agencies wrote in a letter to members of Congress last week that a sampling of 40 of about 30,000 emails sent or received by Clinton found at least four that contained information the government had classified as secret.
The information was classified at the time the emails were sent, according to the inspector general, Charles McCullough.
"This classified information should never have been transmitted via an unclassified personal system," McCullough said in a joint statement on Friday along with his equivalent at the State Department, Steve Linick.