Turning over a wiped server to the FBI is prima facie evidence of destruction of evidence.
I don't think the server itself was under any court order or subpoena.
However, mens rea applies and therefore everything even remotely associated with potential crimes can be siezed under search warrant, and in the case of Govt Agencies, FBI Order.
Also handing the thumb drive to her lawyer is another seriously illegal act, given that it was already public knowledge that there was highly classified info on it at the time, which she was not authorized to distribute to him. That alone is a major felony.
Any good defense attorney would walk all over that in a sec. Gotta have evidence that there ever was anything on the server to begin with ... might have been used for a doorstop ... doubt is all that is needed to sway a jury.
True and that may be why it was done. Would she be better off fighting a single destruction of evidence charge, or turning over a partially scrubbed server and facing multiple counts of more serious crimes involving improper use of classified material on top of multiple destruction of evidence charges?