Senators to DOJ: Why aren't you investigating Clinton?

FPI / October 1, 2019

As the State Department reportedly is ramping up its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, a pair of Republican senators asked Attorney General William Barr to investigate any ties between Clinton’s failed 2016 campaign and Ukraine.

In their letter to Barr dated Sept. 27, Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin wrote:

"The Justice Department has yet to inform Congress and the public whether it has begun an investigation into links and coordination between the Ukrainian government and individuals associated with the campaign of Hillary Clinton or the Democratic National Committee. Ukrainian efforts, abetted by a U.S. political party, to interfere in the 2016 election should not be ignored. Are you investigating links and coordination between the Ukrainian government and individuals associated with the campaign of Hillary Clinton or the Democratic National Committee? If not, why not?"

Grassley and Johnson asked for a response by Oct. 14, requesting that unclassified material be sent to the committee and classified material kept separate from documents that could otherwise be made publicly available.

The State Department, meanwhile, said investigators have contacted as many as 130 current and former officials whose emails found their way into Clinton's inbox, The Washington Post reported, citing current former officials.

According to The Post, those officials have received letters notifying them that their emails from years ago have been retroactively classified and their transmission could constitute security violations.

State Department investigators began contacting the officials around a year and a half ago, then the investigation seemed to fall by the wayside before picking up steam again last month, the report said.

Senior State Department officials denied they were acting at the specific direction of President Donald Trump.

“The process is set up in a manner to completely avoid any appearance of political bias,” a senior State Department official told The Post.

“This has nothing to do with who is in the White House,” a second senior State Department official said. “This is about the time it took to go through millions of emails ...”

Jeffrey Feltman, a former assistant secretary for Near East Affairs, told the Post he found the recent retroactive classification of more than 50 of his emails to be out of the ordinary. “I’d like to think that this is just routine, but something strange is going on.”

Fox News noted that “Those being investigated will not face criminal prosecution since the FBI investigation of the Clinton email case closed before the 2016 election.”

The FBI began investigating Clinton's use of a private email server in July 2015 based on a referral from the intelligence community inspector general. In July 2016, then-FBI director James Comey announced he was recommending the case be closed with no charges, saying Clinton and her aides' handling of classified information was "extremely careless" but not criminal.

Free Press International