House GOP asks U.S. attorney to probe Clinton, alleges perjury

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Monday asked the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia to investigate Hillary Clinton and determine whether she lied to Congress.

The GOP was furious that the FBI decided against pressing charges against Clinton over her handling of classified information when she relied on a private email server for government business during her tenure as secretary of state. Republicans vowed to press ahead against the Democratic presidential candidate.

Reps. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the Oversight panel, and Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., head of the Judiciary Committee, said in a letter that “evidence collected by the FBI during its investigation of Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal email system appears to directly contradict several aspects of her sworn testimony.”

“In light of those contradictions, the department should investigate and determine whether to prosecute Secretary Clinton for violating statutes that prohibit perjury and false statements to Congress, or any other relevant statutes,” the two congressmen wrote.

Last October, in testimony to the House Benghazi panel, Clinton said she never sent or received emails marked as classified when she served as secretary of state. She also has said she only used one mobile device for emails and turned over all her workrelated emails to the State Department.

FBI Director James Comey said she had multiple devices and investigators found thousands of work-related emails that had not been turned over. He told Congress last week that three of her emails carried classified markings.

Referrals from Congress don’t automatically result in full-fledged investigations, but they have spurred some notable criminal probes and indictments.