Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, led a wave of renewed calls for the federal government to examine Hillary Clinton's personal server in light of reports that hundreds of her private emails could have contained classified information.

"Committee members on both sides have been aware of concerns about classified emails within the self-selected records turned over by Secretary Clinton," the South Carolina Republican said Friday.

"The best — the only way — to resolve these important factual questions is for her to turn over her server to the proper authorities for independent forensic evaluation," Gowdy said. "Regardless of whether the server is voluntarily relinquished or acquired by other lawful means, there is clearly sufficient cause to examine the contents of said server for the presence of other classified information."

Gowdy and other Republican members of the select committee have pushed for a probe of Clinton's private server in the past.

But the public discussion over whether a law enforcement agency should seize the server returned with fresh urgency Friday in the wake of a New York Times report that a pair of inspectors general had asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation.

Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, repeated his insistence that the government inspect Clinton's personal email domain.

"Now we learn that Hillary Clinton's desire to play by her own rules may have further exposed classified information," Priebus said Friday. "While a full investigation by the Justice Department is not just needed, but required, Hillary Clinton must also hand her entire secret server over to an independent third party for further review."

Hundreds of Hillary Clinton's private emails contained information that was "potentially classified," despite her oft-repeated claim that she never sent or received sensitive information on her server.

The revelation emerged in a June 29 memo written by the State Department's own inspector general, along with the watchdog from the intelligence community, that outlined their concerns about Clinton's treatment of sensitive information, according to the Times.

In another memo sent July 17, the inspectors general said at least one email that had already been released by the State Department contained classified information.

Speaker of the House John Boehner also publicly called on Clinton to relinquish her home-brew server Friday.

"If Secretary Clinton truly has nothing to hide, she can prove it by immediately turning over her server to the proper authorities and allowing them to examine the complete record," Boehner said.

"She has claimed she is well-aware of what matters are classified and what are not, and yet she set up a personal email server to discuss matters of national security despite guidance to the contrary from both her State Department and the White House," he added. "Her poor judgement has undermined our national security and it is time for her to finally do the right thing."