UNINDICTED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD!
Clinton was ‘extremely careless’ with emails – but faces no charges Republicans demand special prosecutor Trump ramps up attack on ‘Crooked Hillary’
Indictment-hungry Republicans — frustrated by the FBI’s decision not to recommend charges against Democrat Hillary Clinton for using a private email server while running the State Department — are renewing calls for a special prosecutor and demanding the FBI’s records of its probe.
The bombshell announcement by FBI Director James B. Comey, a registered Republican, that Clinton was “extremely careless” with classified material but did nothing to warrant criminal charges sent shock waves through the GOP, which has used the specter of the criminal investigation to repeatedly knock the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Clinton had stated frequently over the past year — and as recently as July 2 — that she “never sent or received any material that was marked classified.” But Comey said the FBI found at least 110 emails with classified material, and at least 52 others with other levels of sensitive material on a server Comey said was less secure than Gmail.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said she would accept the FBI’s recommendations, leading
legal experts to call the criminal case all but finished. Clinton appeared in Charlotte, N.C., alongside President Obama, in their first joint campaign event just hours after Comey’s announcement, which neither brought up at the rally.
But Republicans didn’t let up. Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on Comey to release the “actual evidence” amassed in its year-long investigation.
Others stuck to their demands for a special prosecutor or independent counsel to examine the case, but the latter would require new legislation after the law allowing such a move lapsed in 1999 under then-President Bill Clinton.
“The investigation by the FBI is steeped in political bias, especially considering that former President Bill Clinton met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch just days before the FBI announced its decision,” Ohio U.S. Rep. Mike Turner said, referring to last week’s airport meeting, which the AG said included no talk of the investigation.
“The role of the independent counsel is to keep investigations honest. ... It is time for Secretary Clinton to be held accountable for her extremely careless actions,” Turner said.
U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) also called for a special prosecutor, saying, “Americans deserve accountability from their government officials, especially when they would be harshly prosecuted or imprisoned for performing the very same actions.”
Edward Page, a Tampa, Fla., lawyer who worked as an independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation into then-president Clinton, said Republicans could call congressional hearings to press for the investigation’s findings. “What concerns me is that if you don’t have this independence,” Page said.
“People within the bureau and in the Department of Justice, they’re either three things: a Republican, a Democrat or an independent,” Page explained. “It’s almost impossible to divorce yourself from those things when making judgments in an election year about whether a politician should be prosecuted or not.”
Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, who has called for criminal charges, took to Twitter shortly after to blast the decision, adding that the “system is rigged.”
“Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment,” the post read.
Carl Tobias, a University of Virginia law professor, said he views the investigation as being “effectively” over. He said a congressional hearing on that matter is possible, but also problematic, given the short time frame and Congress’ own schedule.
“I don’t see anybody questioning the integrity of Jim Comey to call it like he sees it,” Tobias said. “And I don’t see the attorney general going in any other direction.”