FBI gives Congress Clinton-probe notes
WASHINGTON — Congress has received FBI docu- ments related to the agency’s recently closed investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state, according to lawmakers.
A spokesman for the Republican-led House oversight panel said the staff is reviewing documents that are classified as secret. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the intelligence committee, said in a statement that the panel received “FBI witness interview reports, including that of Secretary Clinton’s interview, along with other materials from the FBI’s now closed investigative file.”
The FBI last month closed its yearlong probe into whether Clinton and her aides mishandled sensitive information that flowed through a private email server located in the basement of her New York home. Though he described Clinton’s actions as “extremely careless,” FBI Director James Comey said his agents found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the Democratic presidential nominee.
In a statement, the FBI said the materials were provided to Congress consistent with the agency’s “commitment to transparency” in the Clinton case. The material contains classified information and was provided “with the expectation it will not be disseminat-
ed or disclosed” without the FBI’s agreement, the agency said Tuesday.
After the FBI decided not to press charges against the Democratic presidential candidate, House Republicans pressed the agency to release notes from its agents’ July interview with Clinton. They said the FBI documents, which are typically kept confidential after an investigation is closed, may show Clinton provided inconsistent answers to questions about her handling of emails containing classified information during testimony last year before the House Benghazi panel.
Republicans also are demanding that the Justice Department open a new investigation into whether Clinton lied to Congress.
Justice Department spokeswoman Melanie Newman declined to comment Tuesday on the GOP request for a perjury investigation.
Clinton said last year that she turned over all 55,000 pages of work-related emails from her server, but said she deleted thousands more she and her lawyers deemed as personal. Clinton also has said she never sent any information by email that was marked as classified.
More than 100 emails exchanged by Clinton were subsequently reviewed and determined to contain information considered classified. As evidence Clinton lied, Republicans have pointed to three email chains forwarded to Clinton that contained paragraphs marked “(C),” signifying they contained classified information.
Democrats, meanwhile, expressed concern Tuesday that House Republicans would leak snippets of the classified materials carefully selected to make the presidential candidate look bad without providing a fair account of what happened.
Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said Tuesday that the campaign would like the FBI notes to be publicly released in full.
“We believe that if these materials are going to be shared outside the Justice Department, they should be released widely so that the public can see them for themselves,” he said.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, agreed, saying: “The FBI should make as much of the material available as possible. … The people’s interest would be served in seeing the documents that are unclassified.”
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee, said Clinton did not originate the three email chains in question, which were forwarded to her private account by aides. He said only one of those emails was later determined by the State Department to contain classified information.
“The FBI already determined unanimously that there is insufficient evidence of criminal wrongdoing,” Cummings said. “Republicans are now investigating the investigator in a desperate attempt to resuscitate this issue, keep it in the headlines, and distract from [Republican presidential nominee] Donald Trump’s sagging poll numbers.”
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Tuesday that the FBI allowed the department to review emails the agency is providing Congress.
“I think we’re satisfied after having reviewed these emails that the FBI has made arrangements that the documents will be transmitted subject to appropriate handling controls,” he said, adding that the department respects the FBI’s desire to accommodate the requests of its congressional oversight committees.
Toner said, however, that the department is still discussing with the FBI the release of additional notes from the interviews investigators did with Clinton and her aides.
“My understanding is that we continue to work with FBI on those interview summaries,” Toner said. “We haven’t quite reached an agreement on those. My understanding is that we have not received them.”