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Clinton Solely Used Personal Email at State Dept.

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Hillary Clinton only used a personal email account for government business while she was secretary of state, according to the New York Times.

The Times reports she never had a government email address – a possible violation of federal requirements that government officials keep records of their correspondence.

Clinton's aides didn't have her emails recorded on government computer servers, which is required by law so other officials, Congress, historians, and the media can access them if necessary.

"It is very difficult to conceive of a scenario — short of nuclear winter — where an agency would be justified in allowing its Cabinet-level head officer to solely use a private email communications channel for the conduct of government business," the Times quoted Jason R. Baron, a lawyer at Drinker Biddle & Reath and a former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration.

While Baron acknowledged that Clinton isn't the first secretary of state to use a personal email account, he said her exclusive use of private email may be unprecedented.

"I can recall no instance in my time at the National Archives when a high-ranking official at an executive branch agency solely used a personal email account for the transaction of government business," he told the Times.

A spokesman for Clinton said she has been complying with the spirit and the letter of the law.

But records officials and government watchdogs tell the Times that Clinton's use of private email instead of an official government account is a serious breach.

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