Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, sent a letter to Comey asking for “interview transcripts, notes, 302 reports”, which are interview summaries, and other documents related to the investigation into Clinton’s use of the private email server during her State Department tenure. It was obtained by Judicial Watch, a conservative group, through a Freedom of Information lawsuit, one obviously meant to damage the reputation of Hillary Clinton during her presidential campaign.
Advertisement
Pennsylvania’s former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell said the Clintons should shutdown their foundation if Hillary Clinton is elected to the White House in November.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation closed its yearlong probe last month into whether Clinton and her aides mishandled sensitive information that flowed through the private email server located in the basement of her NY home.
During a congressional hearing in July, FBI Director James Comey disclosed that three emails were marked “classified” when handled via Clinton’s private email system. The department said it had reviewed emails that the Federal Bureau of Investigation planned to give to Congress, but not summaries of its interviews with Clinton. The release of information by the FBI related to a closed investigation is highly unusual.
Though the Republicans failed to find evidence to support their claims that Clinton was negligent in preventing or stopping the deadly 2012 attack on the US diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, they are now focusing on questions surrounding the Democratic nominee’s haphazard handling of emails containing government secrets.
They’re trying to make the case that Clinton committed perjury when she testified before Congress last October.
The Clinton Foundation said it does not have a record of the TAQA donation, but March 2012 emails showed foundation officials pressing Clinton’s former chief of staff Cheryl Mills for approval. He also said Clinton was not under oath when she partook in the interview, though it would still be a crime to deliberately and knowingly mislead law enforcement.
“Moreover, only one of those emails was determined by the State Department to contain classified information”.
He later acknowledged that all the three emails were not properly marked, which may lead to the impression that they were not classified. This acknowledgment by the State Department is also at odds with her official campaign statement suggesting all “work or potentially work-related emails” were provided to the State Department.
“Last I heard, my colleagues had their turn with the documents at 1:30 p.m.”, said a Senate Judiciary committee aide. “If the Clinton Foundation continues to cash checks from foreign governments and other individuals seeking to ingratiate themselves with a President Hillary Clinton, it would be unacceptable”.
Advertisement
Clinton’s campaign said in a statement that the release of the notes from the FBI’s investigation is “an extraordinary rare step that was sought exclusively by Republicans for the purposes of further second-guessing the career professionals at the FBI”. Democrats fear documents could be selectively leaked to damage their party’s presidential nominee and say they will comply with the FBI’s request not to release any without the agency’s permission.
