Amid the ongoing Hillary Clinton private email server fiasco, Republicans in Congress subpoenaed Datto, SECNAP Network Security and Platte River Networks earlier this week. U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, is leading the latest effort to gather more information about Clinton's now infamous personal email server, CIO reports.
Smith is demanding documents from Datto, SECNAP and Platte as two congressional committees from the House and Senate investigate the Democratic presidential nominee’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, CIO reported. All three companies either sold products used in Clinton’s email server or were hired to maintain it, Smith said in the subpoenas, the online magazine added.
As ChannelE2E has previously reported, Platte River Networks is a the Denver-based MSP that managed Hillary Clinton’s email server after she left the State Department in 2013. Platte in November 2015 declined requests by a Senate Homeland Committee to interview five employees about the security of the system, according to POLITICO.
Backing Up Clinton's Email Server
The email system apparently was backed up by Datto, the business continuity provider that works closely with managed services providers. Back in November 2015, Platte said it wouldn't permit Datto to answer committee questions about its cloud backup of the Clinton emails, according to a separate letter Datto sent the committee -- though Datto did cooperate with the FBI's email server investigation. SECNAP apparently received and declined similar requests for information in 2015.
It's unclear whether the three companies will hand over the information or risk being held in contempt, CIO says. Platte River Networks declined to comment to CIO on Monday.
In a statement to ChannelE2E, Datto said:
"On August 22, 2016, the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee issued a subpoena to Datto and two other firms in relation to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server. This was expected as part of the continuing Congressional review process and follows our receipt and response to several previous queries by the committee chairmen. As in the past, it is our intention to review and fully comply with all legal requirements in relation to the request."
Take a closer look at that response and it doesn't say exactly how Datto will respond -- other than the storage provider intends to comply with the law. In an October 2015 statement, Datto described how it was striving to protect customer and partner rights amid the earlier subpoena.
ChannelE2E has reached out to SECNAP for comment about the subpoena.
A New Twist
Why is Clinton's personal email server suddenly front-page news again? The New York Times offers this perspective:
"The dispute over Hillary Clinton’s email practices now threatens to shadow her for the rest of the presidential campaign after the disclosure on Monday that the F.B.I. collected nearly 15,000 new emails in its investigation of her and a federal judge’s order that the State Department accelerate the documents’ release."
ChannelE2E will update this story if/when additional details emerge.
