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State Department: Hillary Clinton 'Ignored' Federal Guidelines

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A State Department audit has found that Hillary Clinton disregarded federal guidelines for avoiding cybersecurity risks and failed to seek approval for her use of a private email server.

The Inspector General's 78-page analysis cites a "longstanding, systemic weaknesses" related to the agency's communications. They noted that past secretaries of state did not adequately manage information. However, Clinton's mismanagement is said to be an egregious error.

Despite guidelines, Clinton used her mobile device to conduct official business on her personal email account and private server. She never sought approval from senior information officers who would have refused the request because of "the security risks in doing so," the audit said.

Clinton allies have played down the federal violation by making accusations that the Republican party is working to harm her presidential campaign.

"While political opponents of Hillary Clinton are sure to misrepresent this report for their own partisan purposes, in reality, the Inspector General documents just how consistent her email practices were with those of other secretaries and senior officials at the State Department who also used personal email," spokesman Brian Fallon said.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., is defending Clinton, noting that the report does not accuse her of a crime.

"While Secretary Clinton preserved and returned tens of thousands of pages of her emails to the Department for public release, Secretary Powell returned none," he said in an emailed statement. "Republicans need to stop wasting taxpayer dollars singling out Secretary Clinton just because she is running for president."

Republicans say the audit clearly shows Clinton was in clear violation of the Federal Records Act.

"The Inspector General's findings are just the latest chapter in the long saga of Hillary Clinton's bad judgment that broke federal rules and endangered our national security," Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said. "The stakes are too high in this election to entrust the White House to someone with as much poor judgment and reckless disregard for the law as Hillary Clinton."

Earlier this month, Clinton declared that she was glad to "talk to anybody, anytime" about the matter and encouraged her staff to do the same. However only five of the 26 current and former Clinton aides responded to questionnaires sent by the watchdog office.

Clinton turned down the request to be interviewed but she is expected to be questioned by the FBI who is completing its own separate investigation.

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