Hundreds of the emails from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that were turned over to Congress regarding the Benghazi terrorist attack indicate that she and her advisers were closely monitoring the political fallout for the administration.
According to
The New York Times, sources say that Clinton's top aides at times wrote to her about official business from their personal email accounts. Many of the messages were short or mundane, such as instructions to print an article or scheduling and logistics, but it's unclear whether they represent all of the emails on the subject of Benghazi given that Clinton pre-selected which emails she turned over to the State Department.
The emails did, however, show that Clinton and her inner circle reacted as the administration changed its position on what happened in the Benghazi attack after then-ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice appeared on several Sunday news programs instead of Clinton.
Jake Sullivan, a foreign policy adviser, communicated with Clinton following Rice's appearances, suggesting he was pleased with the way they went.
"She did make clear our view that this started spontaneously then evolved," Sullivan wrote to Clinton.
But several weeks later, as Rice's official explanation came under scrutiny, Sullivan emailed Clinton assuring her that she had avoided the public relations problems that Rice had found her in, the Times reported.
"You never said 'spontaneous' or characterized their motivations," Sullivan wrote.
The 300 emails sent to Congress represent a small fraction of the emails Clinton has turned over to the State Department, though the department has since requested all of her emails so as to respond to the committee requests.
Nick Merrill, the spokesman for Clinton, defended the aides' use of personal email saying that it was "their practice to primarily use their work email when conducting state business, with only the tiniest fraction of the more than 1 million emails they sent or received involving their personal accounts," the Times reported.
But some Republicans are not satisfied with that explanation and question the records provided by Clinton.
South Carolina GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select committee on Benghazi, has suggested he does not believe Clinton turned over all the Benghazi-related emails and had called on her to turn over her private email server so that a neutral party can examine it to see if there are other relevant emails that should be provided to the panel.
The committee is also likely to grill Clinton on why at least four advisers occasionally used personal email accounts to liaise with her, the Times said.