Criminal Inquiry Is Sought in Clinton E-mail Account

Two inspectors general have asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into whether sensitive government information was mishandled in connection with the personal e-mail account Hillary Rodham Clinton used as secretary of state.

The request follows an assessment in a June 29 memo by the inspectors general for the State Department and the intelligence agencies that Clinton’s private account contained “hundreds of potentially classified emails.” The memo was written to Patrick F. Kennedy, the undersecretary of state for management. It is not clear if any of the information in the emails was marked as classified by the State Department when Sec Clinton sent or received them. But since her use of a private email account for official State Department business was revealed in March, she has repeatedly said that she had no classified information on the account. The Justice Department has not decided if it will open an investigation, senior officials said.