FBI To Probe Security Of Clinton Email Server

The FBI will investigate the security of the private email server used by Hillary Clinton when she was US Secretary of State, according to reports.

The security of a flash drive, which also contained copies of Mrs Clinton's emails and is now in the possession of her lawyer David Kendall, will also be scrutinised, The Washington Post reported.

Mrs Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner for next year's presidential election, has faced criticism since her use of a private email server at her home in Chappaqua, New York, was revealed in March.

Government and congressional investigators have been trying to establish whether she sent or received classified information through the server while she was the top US diplomat.

Brian Fallon, a spokesman for Mrs Clinton's presidential campaign, tweeted that The Washington Post report: "Doesn't change anything... IG (Inspector General) sent ask to DOJ to confirm emails are secure.

"IG request was non-criminal & didn't accuse Clinton of wrongdoing. FBI is 'not targeting her'."

Last month, the inspector general of the US intelligence community alerted the Justice Department about whether any classified information that went through Mrs Clinton's home server was mishandled.

That referral did not seek a criminal probe and did not specifically target the 67-year-old.

Last week, State Department spokesman Mark Toner was asked whether the department would be "open" to an FBI investigation into the flash drive.

He said: "We've made sure that the documents with her lawyers' are in a secure setting, but I'm not going to speak to what the FBI should or shouldn't do."

Mrs Clinton has insisted she has not broken any laws or rules by not using a standard government email account for her work in the State Department, and said she used the account as a matter of convenience.