Hillary Rodham Clinton was asked by congressional investigators more than two years ago whether she had used a private email account while serving as secretary of state but the State Department later declined to address the question.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., then the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asked the State Department about it in a December 2012 letter about officials’ use of personal email. The letter asked if Clinton “or any senior agency official ever used a personal email account to conduct official business.”

The State Department responded in March 2013 with details on their email policies but didn’t address the substance of the request. The letters were first reported by The New York Times.

Clinton was wrapping up a two-day trip to Iowa on Wednesday, making her first campaign stops since launching her 2016 presidential campaign on Sunday. She was meeting with small business owners at an event in Norwalk, about 15 miles outside Des Moines.

She said during a news conference at the United Nations last month that she used a personal account over a government one out of convenience. She deleted about 30,000 emails that she has described as personal in nature and has declined requests from congressional Republicans to turn over her server for an independent review.

Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said the Issa letter was sent to all Cabinet agencies shortly before Clinton left the State Department and the department responded to in due course.

“As we’ve said before, as Secretary, she followed the letter and the spirit of the law. She has provided all of her work email to the State Department and has asked the State Department to release them publicly as soon as possible,” Merrill said.

(AP)