Republican Senators Call for Investigation of John Kerry's use of an Alternative Email when Secretary of State

John Kerry, the current U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, is under intense scrutiny for his time as Obama's Secretary of State. Two Republican senators, Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley, asked Antony Blinken to investigate the diplomat for using an email alias, potentially violating federal laws and regulations.

According to the senators, they have been under pressure to shed light on non-governmental emails used by officials during their respective administrations. In this case, they warned that this was common practice for Kerry when he served as Secretary of State between 2013 and 2017.

"Based on complaints filed with our offices, it is our understanding that then-Secretary of State John Kerry used the email address 'SESTravel1@state.gov.' We want to know whether then-Secretary Kerry adequately complied with all federal records laws and regulations with respect to his official email communications and whether responses to relevant Freedom of Information Act requests have adequately included that email address in productions to requesters," Johnson and Grassley wrote in a letter that they wrote together for Blinken.

Regarding the Kerry case, Republican senators have been expressing concerns since 2015 warning that the State Department could have been violating federal records laws.

In the letter they also question whether the email address was used only for official business or also to communicate with foreign governments. They specifically seek clarity about whether or not it was used to communicate information related to the Iran Nuclear Agreement.

"Grassley and Johnson reminded Blinken of their questions about Kerry's alleged 'extensive, consistent and successful interference and obstruction of the FBI's efforts to arrest Iranian terrorists due to his desire to cement the failed Iran Nuclear Deal between the Obama/Biden administration and the Iranian government,'" Fox News reported.

Republicans also highlighted the Biden Administration's lack of transparency. "To date, the Biden administration has not addressed Joe Biden's compliance with federal records laws, " they added.

Johnson and Grassley gave Blinken a period of almost fifteen days to respond to their letter. He is expected to reply before July 1.