Some Republicans want Clinton to be investigated

Democrat Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to President Donald Trump, but some Republi- cans in Congress are intensifying their calls to investigate her and other Obama administration officials. As investigations into Rus

sian meddling and possible links to Trump’s campaign have escalated on both sides of the Capitol, some Repub- licans argue that the investi- gations should have a greater focus on Democrats. Democrats who have

pushed the election probes “have started a war of investigative attrition,” said GOP Rep. Steve King of Iowa, a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Several offic i als from former President Barack Obama’s administration and Clinton’s campaign have appeared before or been interviewed by the House

and Senate Intelligence Committees as part of the Rus- sia investigation, along with Trump campaign officials. The GOP-led committees are investigating whether Trump’s campaign had any links to Russian interference in last year’s election. The chairman of the House

Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., has continued a separate investigation into whether Obama administration officials inap- propriately made requests to “unmask” identities of Trump campaign officials in intelligence reports.

The House Judiciary Committee approved a resolution this past week to request documents related to the FBI’s now-closed investigation of

Clinton’s emails. In addition, Republican on that commit- tee wrote the Justice Department on Thursday and asked for a second special counsel, in addition to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, to investigate “unaddressed matters, some connected to the 2016 election and others, includ- ing many actions taken by Obama administration.”

“The American public has a right to know the facts — all of them — surrounding the election and its aftermath,” the lawmakers wrote.

Republicans want to investigate the unmasking issue and also Clinton’s email scan- dal that figured prominently in the campaign.

They also frequently bring up former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony that she told him to call the Clinton email investigation a “matter” instead of an investiga- tion during the campaign.

Nunes wrote his own letter to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats last week, saying that his com- mittee has learned that one Obama administration offi- cial had made “hundreds” of the unmasking requests.

Even though he remains committee chairman, Nunes stepped back from the Russia investigation earlier this year after he was criticized for being too close to the White House.