Sen. Claire McCaskill Calls Claims of Illegal Behavior by Hillary Clinton a ‘Political Witch Hunt’
But Rep. Trey Gowdy says Clinton should have turned over emails months ago.
— -- The continued accusations of illegal activity by Hillary Clinton, four days after the former secretary of state turned over her private email server to the FBI, amount to a "political witch hunt," Sen. Claire McCaskill said today.
“Secretary of State Clinton was not the first secretary of state to use personal e-mail, but she's the only one that has turned over tens upon thousands of her e-mails and asked them to become public. Now she's turned over her server. What this has turned into is just a good, old-fashioned political witch hunt," she said.
The Democratic senator from Missouri Senator -- a vocal supporter of Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign -- told ABC News' Martha Raddatz that despite the controversy she thinks Clinton will be in "great shape" come next November.
But Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the chairman of the House Benghazi Committee, said on "This Week" that the decision to turn over Clinton’s email server is long overdue.
"It is about time," Gowdy said. "We asked her to do that in March to an independent, neutral, detached third party, either a retired federal judge or the inspector general. And she assured us that would never happen."
Gowdy described Clinton's decision to use a private email account during her time as secretary of state as "unusual" and says it has delayed his committee’s investigation into the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
On Monday, Clinton filed a statement in federal court declaring under oath that she gave the State Department all the emails on the personal account related to her work as secretary of state. Gowdy said he believes that statement is false because his committee has seen work-related emails from Clinton that were not handed over to federal officials.
“Remember those 15 emails that Sidney Blumenthal gave our committee that she did not turn over to the State Department?" he asked, referring to Clinton’s longtime friend and adviser. "All 15 of those related to her public record."
When asked whether he was accusing Clinton of lying, Gowdy said he doesn't use the word "lie."
“Whether she's just terribly mistaken a lot, whether there's an intent to deceive, I'm not smart enough to be able to answer that question," Gowdy said. "I can just tell you this: She's wrong."