Yesterday the White House spokesperson Josh Earnest suggested that President Obama first knew of the existence of a secret Clinton email account after reading about it in the recent papers.  Today President Obama confirmed that espousal:

In interview with @plantecbs, Pres Obama says he learned of Hillary Clinton's private e-mail use "the same time everybody else learned it."

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) March 7, 2015

Today, Politico is reporting the White House knew specifically about the email accounts in August of last year (2014), and the Clinton aides asked white house officials not to immediately act on anything:

(Politico) The White House, State Department and Hillary Clinton’s personal office knew in August that House Republicans had received information showing that the former secretary of state conducted official government business through her private email account — and Clinton’s staff made the decision to keep quiet.

Sources familiar with the discussions say key people in the Obama administration and on Clinton’s staff were aware that the revelation could be explosive for the all-but-announced candidate for president. But those involved deferred to Clinton’s aides, and they decided not to respond. (link)

Further in the Politico article it cites the timeline of August 2014 notification came as a result of the Select Committee on Benghazi and their inquires into communication within the State Dept. between Hillary and other officials.

[…] According to the sources, the problem came to light in August as the State Department prepared to respond to a request from the House Select Committee investigating the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. State Department officials noticed that some of the 15,000 pages of documents included a personal email address for Clinton, and State and White House officials conferred on how to handle the revelation, which they expected the committee to notice. But they felt that Clinton’s personal staff should take the lead, since she was no longer in government, and Clinton aides decided to wait and see. (more)

But if you actually look at the timeline, there’s more than a little suspect about this claim.

♦ May 2nd, 2014 the first announcement of Speaker John Boehner plans to create the Select Committee On Benghazi.

Obama admin defied subpoena, compelling House to establish a new #SelectCommittee on #Benghazi. http://t.co/nbaLpuNHsg

— John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) May 2, 2014

♦ May 9th, 2014 Speaker Boehner names the seven members of the Select Committee.

♦ May 21st, 2014 Nancy Pelosi announces the names of the five democrats who will be on the committee.

The Select Committee is a shameful attempt to politicize the Benghazi tragedy. That is why Dems must participate—to stand up for the truth.

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) May 21, 2014

I agreed to participate for two reasons: first as Ranking Member of the Oversight Committee, and I've seen how abusive the GOP has been.

— Elijah E. Cummings (@RepCummings) May 21, 2014

May 30th, 2014 Hillary Clinton and President Obama have a secret meeting in the White House.

The meeting was accidentally discovered as a result of an inadvertent tweeted by People Magazine and then deleted 3 minutes later.

https://twitter.com/rubycramer/status/472115545106837504

♦ June, 2014 was Select Committee “rules and planning” month.

♦ July 9th, 2014 FBI, CIA, (interagency team) briefs Select Committee on Ahmed Abu Khattala.

♦ July 31st, 2014 FBI presentation – Classified Committee Briefing on night of 9/11/12 (including videos – surveillance footage)

♦ September 17th, 2014 The first public hearing on Benghazi focuses on Diplomatic Security, and whether prior State Department security recommendation were in place.

♦ January 14th, 2015 (emphasis mine) – Washington, DC:

The Select Committee on Benghazi held a closed-door, classified briefing this week with the Department of State about the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attacks that left the U.S. ambassador to Libya, a State Department communications officer and two U.S. security agents dead.

“The Select Committee met in closed session to discuss the facts surrounding the attacks on our Mission Facility and Annex in Benghazi,” said Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. “The Department of State provided new information to the committee and answered questions raised by committee members.”

Gowdy added, “The committee is continuing its probe into all aspects of Benghazi and is currently focused on ensuring access to all first-hand accounts from those on the ground that night. This process will be ongoing and in some respects must remain classified.”

Gowdy also said the committee held a closed-door meeting with the Department of Justice regarding document production and potential witnesses related to the committee’s ongoing probe. He went on to say while the bulk of the committee’s work will have to be done in classified settings or through investigative techniques that do not lend themselves to public hearings, he still plans to hold more public hearings.  (link)

It is far more likely the May 30th,2014, secret meeting in the White House between Hillary Clinton and President Obama was directly related to the announcement of the Democrat members of the Benghazi Committee days earlier, and contained discussions about the communication pipeline.

Lastly, and fyi – Hillary is “on the record” saying that Obama’s National Security Advisor Tom Donilon was her direct “go to” person in the White House regarding everything that related to her communication into and out of the White House – on the night of 9/11/12 (Benghazi Attack) and prior.

Tommy “Dude” Vietor was the Spox for Donilon during 9/11/12 and was in the situation room on the night of the Benghazi Attacks.   The communication between Clinton and Donilon is key, and Vietor might know its location.   Stay safe Tommy.