U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., running for the Republican nomination to replace U.S. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in 2016 is taking aim at bigger game than his Senate rivals in former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Rubio is running for the Republican presidential nomination and has said he will not seek a second term in the Senate.
DeSantis, the chairman of the U.S. House National Security Subcommittee, came out swinging at Clinton on Wednesday over her comments downplaying using private email and a private server during her time at the State Department.
"Using an unsecured, private email server to send and receive information at the top secret level is absolutely reckless,” DeSantis said on Wednesday. “Secretary Clinton's excuse about the information not being marked classified is completely bogus; anybody with minimal knowledge of intelligence would know that signals intelligence is highly classified.”
Clinton, the favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination, said she used a private email server to handle work-related emails for convenience.
This week, Clinton admitted she was the official who oversaw the turning over of thousands of pages of emails that might be work-related. She further denied sending any classified emails from the private server.
Her campaign team acknowledged there was an attempt to wipe the server before it handed over emails.
When asked about wiping the server, Clinton immediately became defensive.
"What, like with a cloth or something?" Clinton said, brushing off the question. "Well, no. I don't know how it works digitally at all."
Clinton then cut the press conference short.
This isn't the first time Clinton has joked about the email issue. Earlier this week, she said she likes the popular social network Snapchat, because "the messages go away on their own."
Clinton’s attempt to brush off the matter didn’t sit well with DeSantis.
“Secretary Clinton's mocking of the seriousness of the issue is appalling given that members of the military and intelligence communities have been -- and continue to be -- prosecuted for conduct far less egregious,” DeSantis said on Wednesday. “Secretary Clinton does not believe the same rules should apply to her as they do to everyone else."
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN. Reach Tampa-based reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
