When the question and answer session began, Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) did his best to get Comey to call Clinton a liar, and had little success until he read back a statement that Clinton made under oath when asked her about her email set-up during a hearing of the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
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Republican Sen. John Cornyn demanded Thursday that the Department of Justice release the transcript of Hillary Clinton’s interview with the FBI, as Republicans ramp up pressure on both Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey over the decision not to charge Clinton over her email use.
One notable exchange saw Comey suggesting that the former secretary of state’s level of sophistication may have been an issue in whether she understood whether emails contained classified information.
Mr Comey was asked at the hearing if Mrs Clinton should face administrative punishment for the way she handled her email and responded: “I don’t think that’s for me to recommend”. Clinton used a private email server for some of her official business as secretary of state, which may have compromised sensitive information.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who previously said Clinton “violated the law” with the use of her server, told Comey he was “mystified” by the decision and said, “it seems that there are two standards, and there’s no outcome for these types of activities and dealing in a careless way with classified information”.
Comey says there was only one precedent in the past 100 years for prosecuting on a “gross negligence” item and “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring this case.
The FBI found that while Mrs Clinton’s conduct was not criminal, she had been “extremely careless” in sending classified information via her personal email account.
While Comey acknowledged today that Clinton’s statement on October 22 was “not true”, he seemed skeptical that it amounted to perjury because Clinton may not have known the relevant emails contained classified information. “I don’t think there has been a referral from Congress”.
Comey also defended his department’s handling of the politically charged investigation, saying their conclusion would have been reached no matter which party was in control of the White House.
But with a presidential election in the balance, Comey was in the hot seat for his decision to not prosecute the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Chaffetz grilled Comey on this point during a hearing Thursday morning.
“It seems to a lot of us that the average Joe-the average American-that if they had done what you laid out in your statement, that they’d be in handcuffs. If your name isn’t Clinton and you are not part of the powerful elite, then Lady Justice will act differently”. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., called Comey’s work “thankless” and said Republicans had reversed course from praising his impartiality only days ago. Just further evidence that the Clintons manage to tarnish all that they touch. “You refused to do so now … essentially you’re on trial”.
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In his opening statement to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Comey said he welcomed the opportunity to explain why the Federal Bureau of Investigation reached the conclusion it did regarding Hillary Clinton’s careless use of a personal email server. “We don’t want to put people in jail unless we prove that they knew they were doing something they shouldn’t do”, Comey said.
