Questions swirl over Clinton e-mails as she prepares for 2016

WASHINGTON - Questions about Hillary Rodham Clinton's e-mail practices in government have not gone away with her news conference on the subject, even as she tries to get her preparations for a presidential campaign back on track.

Her mea culpa Tuesday, acknowledging she should have used a government e-mail address while secretary of state, may have satisfied some campaign-focused Democrats, while others fretted that she had yet to put the issue to rest. Among Republicans in Congress, plans were discussed to call her before a House committee to face questions about her use of a private e-mail account and how that might play into the enduring debate over the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

The committee's chairman, Republican Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, said Wednesday he wanted an independent review of the private server Clinton used for e-mails while she was secretary. That set up a possible confrontation with Clinton, who has said she will not give up control of the server although she wants the e-mails she turned over to the State Department to be released.

Gowdy said neither Clinton nor the committee should determine which e-mails are made public. "Let a neutral, detached, disinterested observer make that call," he said. "Somebody's going to have to have access to her server. You don't get to grade your own papers in life."

Also Wednesday, the Associated Press filed a lawsuit against the State Department to force the release of e-mail correspondence and government documents from her tenure as secretary of state.

The focus on Clinton's e-mails has jumbled what had been expected to be a smooth glide toward the start of her presidential campaign next month.

During a news conference Tuesday, Clinton pledged that all her work-related e-mail would be made public. But she also acknowledged that she deleted messages related to personal matters. She refused calls from Republicans to turn over the e-mail server to an independent reviewer.

Some Democrats said the news conference did not mean the end of the matter.

"This is something that is going to be discussed until the State Department releases the e-mails," said Boyd Brown, a Democratic National Committee member from South Carolina.

"Then House Republicans will have a study committee to look at them, and then that will turn into an investigatory committee," Brown said. "Folks are going to be Clinton weary, and that's the point of this from the Republican standpoint, to make people tired of hearing about Hillary Clinton."

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton jumped into the national spotlight in a big way this week, orchestrating a letter to put the brakes on the Iran nuclear talks.

In less than three months, Cotton, 37, a lanky, Harvard-educated Army veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has emerged as one of the most aggressive national security hawks in the Senate, challenging President Obama's foreign policy.

Cotton has drawn a following - 46 GOP senators signed his letter, and several potential presidential candidates signaled support - but also scorn.

He wasn't surprised by the backlash, he said. "They know they can't defend the terms of the deals

they are negotiating," he told the Washington Post.

Back home, there is even talk of a presidential run, if not in 2016 then in 2020, when Cotton would still be only 42. A state senator has introduced a bill that would let Cotton seek reelection and run for president at the same time. - From Wire ReportsEndText