GOP senators renew request for more information about FBI Clinton email probe

Three Senate Committee chairmen have renewed their request for additional information from an inspector general report on the FBI’s handling of an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

In a letter sent to Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday, Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Homeland Security and Government Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) re-upped their request for a classified briefing on steps the Justice Department plans to take in light of its inspector general’s 2018 report.

The report found that political bias did not interfere with the FBI’s conclusion in its 2016 investigation. But it blasted then-FBI Director James Comey and claimed that he made a “serious error of judgment” by telling Congress before the 2016 election that the bureau was re-opening the probe.

The chairmen initially asked for a classified briefing in July, but the Justice Department responded that such a briefing could interfere with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Grassley followed up with a letter in October.

“Now that the Special Counsel’s investigation has concluded, we are unaware of any legitimate basis upon which the Department can refuse to answer the Judiciary Committee’s inquiries,” the chairmen wrote in their Tuesday letter.

The lawmakers noted that the classified appendix of the inspector general’s report “raises significant issues associated with the FBI’s failure to review certain highly classified information in support of its Midyear investigation.” In particular, the lawmakers highlight the report’s finding that the FBI obtained classified information that could have been included in the investigation of Clinton’s use of a private email server, and that it wrote a draft memorandum that suggested the information was necessary to complete the investigation. But FBI witnesses told the inspector general that the information would not have affected the conclusion, the lawmakers wrote.

“That explanation is inconsistent with the memorandum’s self-identified purpose and demands clarification,” they said.

The letter from the chairmen comes amid renewed interest in examining the Justice Department, now that the Mueller investigation is complete and found no conspiracy or coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. Last month, Graham said he would investigate whether the FBI and the Justice Department influenced the 2016 election in an attempt to stop Trump from becoming president.

Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine