WASHINGTON -- Republican senators pressed for more information Wednesday about an FBI investigation into the potential mishandling of sensitive information that passed through former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server, and the GOP sued for copies of the messages.
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The Republican National Committee filed two lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Washington over access to electronic messages sent or received by the Democratic presidential candidate and her top aides during her time as the nation's top diplomat.
Both lawsuits stem from Freedom of Information Act requests filed last year for copies of emails and text messages. In court filings, the GOP says it has not received any documents in response to the requests.
The GOP litigation brings the total to at least 34 civil suits involving requests for federal records related to Clinton's service as secretary of state between 2009 and 2013. The Associated Press is among those with a pending case.
"For too long, the State Department has undermined the public and the media's legitimate right to records under the Freedom of Information Act, and it's time it complies with the law," said Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said the agency was aware of the lawsuits but would not comment on pending litigation.
"We take court orders seriously, but I can't go into predictions about our ability to produce what's in these suits in a specific time frame," he said.
The State Department has released more than 52,000 pages of Clinton's work-related emails, but her lawyers have withheld thousands more that they deemed to be personal communications unrelated to her job. Also left unresolved are questions about how Clinton and her closest aides handled classified information.
Clinton's private email server was set up in the basement of her New York home. The FBI for months has investigated whether sensitive information that flowed through the server was mishandled. The State Department has acknowledged that some emails included classified information, including some at the top-secret level. Clinton has said she never sent or received anything that was marked classified at the time.
The inspectors general at the State Department and U.S. intelligence agencies are separately investigating whether rules or laws were broken.
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Attorney General Lynch on Wednesday about media reports that the Justice Department had offered immunity from criminal prosecution to Bryan Pagliano, the State Department employee who set up the server, in exchange for his cooperation. Pagliano previously declined to testify before Congress, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the committee chairman, asked Lynch whether Pagliano's immunity offer carried over to congressional committees.
Lynch declined to provide details about the agreement, but she said the department was preparing a written response to Grassley's request for a copy.
Lynch mostly deflected specific questions about the case, though she said she would do the same in all ongoing investigations, "whether they involve someone with a famous last name or not."
"We treat them the same, and that is how the public has confidence in the investigations that we conduct," Lynch said.
Republican senators also questioned Lynch about whether she had discussed the FBI's investigation with President Barack Obama or anyone at the White House, alluding to comments in January from White House spokesman Josh Earnest that Clinton was not at risk of being charged with a crime.
Under questioning from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Lynch said she did not know why a White House spokesman was speaking in a way that suggested he had inside knowledge of the investigation.
"Certainly, it's my hope, when it comes to ongoing investigations, that we all would stay silent," she said.
Information for this article was contributed by Michael Biesecker and Eric Tucker of The Associated Press and Matt Zapotosky of The Washington Post.
A Section on 03/10/2016