This is an internal investigation, so unless there’s a criminal referral it wouldn’t be leading to criminal action.
The Trump administration’s State Department is intensifying its investigation into the email records of dozens of former department officials and aides to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
As many as 130 officials have been recently contacted by investigators from the State Department, current and former officials told the Washington Post. According to the outlet, those targeted were contacted by the department about emails they sent years ago that have been retroactively classified and could now count as possible security violations. Investigators began communicating with former officials around 18 months ago, but they appeared to suspend the effort before ramping it back up in August.
Although some who are under scrutiny view the recent activity as the Trump administration’s decision to wield power against political adversaries, senior State Department officials said they are simply following standard protocol in an investigation that initially started during the Obama administration.
“This has nothing to do with who is in the White House,” one official said. “This is about the time it took to go through millions of emails, which is about 3 and a half years.”
“The process is set up in a manner to completely avoid any appearance of political bias,” another official added.