Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s chief of staff and adviser at the State Department, was given the narrow immunity deal during the FBI’s investigation into the former secretary of state’s use of a private email server during her time in office. Clinton aide Heather Samuelson, who worked with Mills to sort Clinton’s emails, also received a similar immunity deal.
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Former Hillary Clinton aide Cheryl Mills speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill on September 3, 2015.
Americans already knew of two immunity deals; one for Paul Combetta, a computer specialist, and another for Bryan Pagliano, a former staffer who set up Clinton’s email server.
“This is beyond explanation. The FBI was handing out immunity agreements like candy”, Chaffetz said in a statement.
“I think it’s an appropriate role of Congress to ask why this group of Clinton people was treated differently than any other investigation has ever been done”, he said.
According to Oversight Committee Ranking Member Elijah Cummings, the deal was “limited” and does not immunize Mills “for any statements she made to the FBI, Congress, or other investigators”.
The FBI let Hillary Clinton walk scot-free from her email scandal earlier this year, and Republicans haven’t forgotten.
In July, FBI Director James B. Comey announced that he would not recommend charges against Clinton over her handling of classified emails through a private server set up in the basement of her NY home during her tenure as secretary of State. Chaffetz, R-Utah, is also a member of that committee.
The State Department told a federal judge Friday it found 5,600 work-related e-mails from a disk of deleted messages recovered from the private e-mail server Hillary Clinton used while secretary of state, raising the possibility of further disclosures on a subject that has dogged the Democrat’s presidential bid.
He said Mrs. Clinton must declare that none of those involved will be hired by her administration if she wins the White House.
Mses. Mills and Samuelson both gave testimony to the Federal Bureau of Investigation that wasn’t covered under their immunity agreements.
Copies of the immunity agreements were provided to the Oversight Committee by the Justice Department this week under seal.
Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon accused House Republicans of “trying to make something out of nothing” by requesting the files, and timing the request “just three days before the first presidential debate”.
That’s an terrible lot of people getting immunity in an investigation that ends with the FBI director announcing no reasonable prosecutor would take the case.
Chaffetz said that he was “absolutely stunned” that the FBI would reach a deal with someone as close to the investigation as Mills. While chief of staff at State, Mills traveled to NY on what her lawyer says was a volunteer basis to interview job candidates for the foundation, according to a CNN investigation.
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Her time at the State Department has been controversial both in terms of her handling of sensitive information via Clinton’s email server and in her connection to the Clinton Foundation.
