Peter W. Smith, a wealthy Republican operative and businessman who reportedly attempted to recover missing emails from Hillary Clinton’s email server committed suicide in May, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Smith was found dead in a Rochester, Minnesota, hotel room on May 14. A Rochester Police Department report seen by CBS News refers to Smith’s death as an “apparent suicide.” The report describes the scene where Smith’s body was found.
On May 4, Smith had told Wall Street Journal reporter Shane Harris about his efforts to secure emails that were deleted from Clinton’s server, which included contact with what he believed were Russian hackers. He had previously helped fund opposition research against President Bill Clinton in the 1990s.