FBI Director James Comey will testify on Capitol Hill Thursday regarding the bureau's investigation of Hillary Clinton's email practices, part of a concerted GOP effort to keep the heat on Clinton heading into the party conventions and a long congressional recess.
Comey will appear before the Oversight Committee at 10 a.m., House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said on Wednesday morning. The hearing will be just two days after Comey's stunning repudiation of Clinton's "extremely careless" practice of using a private email server to send classified information during her tenure as secretary of State. Comey did not recommend charges be filed against her, stoking GOP outrage and propelling congressional leaders like Chaffetz to seek more information.
Chaffetz's Senate counterpart, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), demanded a written explanation of Comey's decision-making on Wednesday. And House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) said that Attorney General Loretta Lynch will testify next Tuesday before his panel about Clinton's email practices, as well as Bill Clinton's private meeting with Lynch in late June.
The flurry of action highlights the GOP's exasperation over Comey's decision not to recommend an indictment despite his harsh words for Clinton. Republicans said the decision feeds the public perception that the Clintons are not held to the same standard as other Americans, and the GOP is set to use the matter as a electoral cudgel over the next four months.
Chaffetz called it "surprising and confusing" that Comey did not recommend an indictment; the FBI chief's criticism, in Chaffetz's view, "makes clear Secretary Clinton violated the law."
"Congress and the American people have a right to understand the depth and breadth of the FBI's investigation," Chaffetz said in a statement announcing that Comey had agreed to his request.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/house-oversight-chairman-comey-to-testify-thursday-225156
Comey will appear before the Oversight Committee at 10 a.m., House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said on Wednesday morning. The hearing will be just two days after Comey's stunning repudiation of Clinton's "extremely careless" practice of using a private email server to send classified information during her tenure as secretary of State. Comey did not recommend charges be filed against her, stoking GOP outrage and propelling congressional leaders like Chaffetz to seek more information.
Chaffetz's Senate counterpart, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), demanded a written explanation of Comey's decision-making on Wednesday. And House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) said that Attorney General Loretta Lynch will testify next Tuesday before his panel about Clinton's email practices, as well as Bill Clinton's private meeting with Lynch in late June.
The flurry of action highlights the GOP's exasperation over Comey's decision not to recommend an indictment despite his harsh words for Clinton. Republicans said the decision feeds the public perception that the Clintons are not held to the same standard as other Americans, and the GOP is set to use the matter as a electoral cudgel over the next four months.
Chaffetz called it "surprising and confusing" that Comey did not recommend an indictment; the FBI chief's criticism, in Chaffetz's view, "makes clear Secretary Clinton violated the law."
"Congress and the American people have a right to understand the depth and breadth of the FBI's investigation," Chaffetz said in a statement announcing that Comey had agreed to his request.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/house-oversight-chairman-comey-to-testify-thursday-225156
