Amid Hillary Clinton Email Controversy, Jeb Bush Also Said to Have Used Private Email Account as Governor

Jeb Bush, one of the emerging Republican candidates for president next year, used his private email account during his tenure as Florida governor to discuss security and military issues, according to a Washington Post report.

Bush earlier criticized potential Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for practically the same alleged offense of using her private email account when she was the secretary of state.

"Transparency matters. Unclassified @HillaryClinton emails should be released," he posted on Twitter.

In a report on Saturday, the Washington Post said Bush discussed Florida National Guard troop deployment to the Middle East and protection of nuclear plants using his private email account.

A Bush aide, according to the report, said none of the emails had sensitive or classified information and that many of the events were in press accounts.

"But security experts say private e-mail systems such as the one used by Bush are more vulnerable to hackers, and that details such as troop movements could be exploited by enemies," the newspaper said.

Some emails in Bush's server were redacted or withheld from release to the public as these had sensitive security issues, according to the Bush camp.

Communications director Tim Miller said Bush would discuss sensitive National Guard issues in person with only occasional briefings by e-mail, the report said.

"This Democrat opposition research dump of a few innocuous e-mails that Gov. Bush voluntarily posted on a Web site only highlights how large the gap is between him and Clinton in the area of transparency," Miller said.

Bush used the account jeb@jeb.org to conduct official, political and personal business. His server was at the governor's office in Tallahassee and took it with him when he left office in 2007.

He later turned over 280,000 emails for state archives as mandated by law.

Clinton earlier defended the use of her personal email account, saying it was allowed under the law.

"First, when I got to work as secretary of state, I opted for convenience to use my personal email account, which was allowed by the State Department, because I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two," she said in a press conference.