Perhaps the biggest news, however, came when committee chairman Jason Chaffetz said he would instruct the FBI to investigate whether Mrs Clinton lied when she told Congress under oath that she did not email classified information.
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“Did Hillary Clinton give non-cleared people access to classified information”, he asked.
The FBI director also challenged the truthfulness of Clinton’s previous testimony on the matter in front of the committee that included Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) who just wrapped up a lengthy investigation into the Benghazi attacks.
This is now known to be a false statement, and potentially an instance of perjury if it can be shown that at the time Clinton knew that she had sent and received classified information.
Chaffetz then asked Comey, “Did Hillary Clinton lie?”
A current FBI employee who used a personal email setup similar to Clinton’s would not face criminal indictment for their activities, FBI Director James Comey told members of the House Oversight Committee on Thursday.
Comey said the decision whether or not to prosecute hinged on determining whether or not Clinton sought to break the law at the time.
During the tense hearing, Comey acknowledged that those 30,000 e-mails contained three messages that had classified information in them.
He asked Comey if the FBI had investigated whether the statements Clinton made under oath about her email when she appeared before the Benghazi committee past year had been accurate.
“I think there are about 300 people in the government – mostly in the State Department – but in other high positions in the government with whom I e-mailed over the course of four years”, Clinton said.
“You’ll have one, ” Chaffetz said, with a laugh.
Judicial proceedings in the case were officially ended on Wednesday after Attorney General Loretta Lynch confirmed that the Justice Department would not file charges against the former first lady as per the FBI’s recommendation. He went on to specify that Clinton was on seven of those chains that were classified as top secret.
Comey began his testimony by explaining again that there was no cause to prosecute Clinton and reiterated that there was no precedent for bringing such a case.
Announcing the findings of the FBI’s probe on Tuesday, Mr Comey said Ms Clinton and her aides at the US State Department had been “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly-classified information”.
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Asked if he had been surprised by the sharp criticism of his conclusions, he said: “I’m not surprised by the intense interest and the debate”.
