The New York Times is reporting that Hillary Clinton was asked by congressional investigators if she was using a private email account when she was secretary of state back in 2012.

But Mrs. Clinton did not reply to the letter. And when the State Department answered in March 2013, nearly two months after she left office, it ignored the question and provided no response.

The question was asked by Rep. Darrell Issa who was the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee at the time. The committee was looking into how the Obama administration was handling official email use.

"Have you or any senior agency official ever used a personal email account to conduct official business?" Mr. Issa wrote to Mrs. Clinton. "If so, please identify the account used."

Issa also asked Clinton, "Does the agency require employees to certify on a periodic basis or at the end of their employment with the agency they have turned over any communications involving official business that they have sent or received using nonofficial accounts?"

Mr. Issa’s letter also sought written documentation of the department’s policies for the use of personal email for government business. Mrs. Clinton left the State Department on Feb. 1, 2013, seven weeks after the letter was sent to her.

When Mr. Issa received a response from the State Department on March 27, all he got was a description of the department’s email policies. According to the letter, any employee using a personal account “should make it clear that his or her personal email is not being used for official business.”

Last month, Clinton admitted that she had not used her official State Department email address and instead set up her own, homegrown email server to send emails.

The Issa letter was provided to the New York Times by an official on the condition of anonymity.