GOP Lawmakers Desperately Cling to Clinton Email Controversy, Get Smacked Down by FBI Director

Speaker Ryan Calls for Denial of Classified Briefings, While GOP Rep. Chaffetz Wants New FBI Investigation

Following the justice department’s announcement that it won’t bring charges against Hillary Clinton, congressional Republicans are desperately trying to come up with new ways to drag out the controversy over the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s handling of classified information on a private email server. 

On Wednesday, the same day AG Loretta Lynch announced the DOJ’s conclusion, House Speaker Paul Ryan sent a letter to James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, asking him to deny Clinton classified briefings during her run for the presidency. A Clinton spokesman dismissed Ryan’s letter as “another blatantly political stunt,” while White House press secretary Josh Earnest confirmed that intelligence officials will “provide the same information to both candidates.” 

Then, on Thursday, Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told FBI Director James Comey he would request that the agency launch a new investigation into whether Clinton lied under oath during the investigation. 

But during his testimony before the committee, Comey vigorously defended the FBI’s investigation, which resulted in its recommendation of no charges that was accepted by the DOJ. 

“I hope at the end of the day, people can disagree, can agree, but they will at least understand that the decision was made and the recommendation was made the way you would want it to be, by people who didn’t give a hoot about politics, but who cared about what are the facts, what is the law, and how have similar people, all people, been treated in the past,” Comey said.