Here was the GOP ploy: request yet another FBI investigation of Clinton, with this one focused on whether she testified accurately to Congress about the emails.
Advertisement
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told reporters today that keeping candidate Hillary Clinton from viewing classified information is “something that the administration should do on its own, but we’ll look into seeing if that’s something we can do as well”.
I’m not going to comment on the existence or nonexistence of any other investigations.
GOWDY: OK. Well, I’m looking for a little shorter answer so you and I are not here quite as long.
Comey called Clinton’s behavior the “definition of carelessness” during the hearing, and said she made repeated claims in public that were “not true”, according to a Fox News report on the hearing.
Some of them were “marked”, as Comey noted, adding: “But even if information is not marked “classified” in an email, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it”.
“That’s not what I said”, Comey said.
COMEY: No, we found work related emails, thousands, that were not returned.
Comey indicated Tuesday that a criminal charge wasn’t warranted because there wasn’t evidence that showed Clinton had intentionally transmitted or mishandled classified materials on goal.
Rep. Trey Gowdy asked Comey whether Clinton’s statement was correct.
“The material that they sent to me, they didn’t believe was classified”.
The Oversight Committee is chaired by Republican U.S. Representative Jason Chaffetz, known for his persistent questioning of Obama administration officials.
Cummings went on to ask Comey to explain why General David Petraeus, the former Central Intelligence Agency director who plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information, was prosecuted for his misconduct while Clinton was not.
Comey said the decision whether or not to prosecute hinged on determining whether or not Clinton sought to break the law at the time.
“However, the same can not be said for the State Department and other government email systems”.
“I do not think they were careless”, she said.
During the hearing, Comey argued the legal standard of criminal intent ultimately led to no charges being filed against Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Advertisement
Lynch said she met on Wednesday afternoon with Comey and the career prosecutors and agents who had investigated whether Clinton broke the law as result of email servers kept in her Chappaqua, New York, home.
