Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said on Thursday that Congress would send a referral to the FBI to investigate whether Clinton lied under oath about her handling of classified information. “There are two criminal justice systems in the United States, one for Hillary Clinton and another for everyone else”.
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“I don’t think that our investigation established that she actually was particularly sophisticated with respect to classified information and the levels and the treatment”, he said.
Chaffetz called Comey to testify before the House Oversight Committee less than 24 hours after Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced she would accept Comey’s recommendation from Tuesday to not press charges against Clinton for mishandling classified information with her private server. So that would appear to say, well, maybe in that circumstance you don’t need to prove they were doing something unlawful, maybe it’s enough to prove they were really, really careless beyond a reasonable doubt. Clinton had said publicly she never sent or received any classified information.
Although Kirby declined to provide specific information about the State Department’s latest review, he said it would aim to be “as transparent as possible about our results, while complying with our various legal obligations”. Apparently baffled by such a specific response to a vague question, Chaffetz said that he would ask the FBI to investigate whether Clinton lied to Congress. She was not under oath, but he quickly noted that “it’s still a crime to lie to the F.B.I”. She also has said she only used one mobile device for emails and turned over all of her work-related emails to the State Department.
“Certainly she should have known not to send classified information”, said Comey. “Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat, said that he believed that those lawyers had security clearance, The truth is what it is, but even if those lawyers had the required security clearance, Comey came across looking bad or worse, notwithstanding Cummings” assurance that Comey’s recommendation remained “intact”. Voters should know what Comey thinks about that and someone should have asked him.
Despite the no-prosecution decision, Comey had rebuked Clinton and her aides on Tuesday as being “extremely careless” in their handling of classified information and contradicted numerous explanations she’s put forward. No, Comey said, there were multiple devices.
Comey also testified that there were three emails found on Clinton’s servers bearing the letter “C” which denotes they were classified, in apparent contradiction of the former secretary of state’s statements.
Republicans are trying other avenues to attack Clinton.
“We’re mystified and confused by the fact pattern you laid out and the conclusion you reached, ” Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told Comey Thursday in his opening statement, adding that any other “average Joe” facing the same scrutiny would likely be in “handcuffs”.
Hillary Clinton has said that former President Clinton would have a crucial role in her administration of revitalizing the economy.
He drew distinctions between the Clinton probe and last year’s prosecution of former CIA Director David Petraeus, who pleaded guilty to sharing classified information with his biographer.
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Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee in the presidential race, also took to Twitter following Comey’s announcement, writing, “The system is rigged”. Clinton is expected to be the Democratic nominee for president.
