Utah Republicans lash out at Clinton in wake of FBI announcement

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Republicans lashed out at Hillary Clinton on Tuesday after no criminal charges were recommended against the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee for using private email as secretary of state.

FBI Director James Comey, who announced the recommendation Tuesday, "probably" will be called to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the committee's chairman, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said.

"I want to hear details of the case," Chaffetz said. "The fact pattern is clear: Did she or did she not have classified information in a nonsecure format? The answer is clearly, yes. Well, that is a violation of federal law."

He said he's already spoken with the FBI director about the need for an explanation, but wants a better understanding of what the committee could actually do before proceeding.

Ultimately, Chaffetz said it will be up to voters in November's election to decide whether to accept "deception and deceit" from Clinton or "try something that's new and different," and choose the GOP's presidential pick, Donald Trump.

"She’s the first openly corrupt person to seek the office of the presidency. We’ve known that about her. We’ve known that for years," Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, said, calling Clinton "far, far worse" than the billionaire businessman and reality TV star.

Stewart, who as a member of the House Intelligence Committee had access earlier this year to more than two dozen of Clinton's top-secret emails, said they contained "information that is as sensitive as anything I've ever seen."

He said her lack of judgement and carelessness with highly sensitive information, such as the names of what he termed "classified human assets," make her unfit to become commander in chief.

Stewart said as secretary of state, Clinton had a special responsibility to protect those people from the danger that comes with exposure by not storing information about them on an unsecured server.

"You can't just be sloppy like someone else could," he told KSL Newsradio's Doug Wright. He said later he could not comment whether any harm came to the people named in the classified emails as a result of the security issues.

Stewart stopped short of calling for an investigation into the FBI director's recommendation. He said he expects the intelligence committee to discuss the recommendation with Comey during one of their regular closed-door sessions.

"I wish we could tell the American people. I wish we could have a full accounting," Stewart said, noting there are other security-related issues surrounding the classified emails that likely will never come to light.

Related

No charges for Clinton, FBI says — despite biting criticism

The FBI lifted a major legal threat to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign Tuesday, recommending no criminal charges for her handling of highly classified material in a private email account. But Director James Comey's scathing criticism of her "extremely careless" behavior revitalized Republican attacks and guaranteed the issue will continue to dog her.

Utah GOP Chairman James Evans said the FBI's announcement underscores that Clinton is "dishonest and untrustworthy." Evans said he believes charges were not brought against her for political reasons.

"I think Utahns will see it for what it is," he said. "It was a political decision, not a legal decision."

But Utah Democratic Party Chairman Peter Corroon said he doesn't believe the FBI's announcement will have much impact on Democrats because Utahns had already largely decided whether they love or hate Clinton.

"The Republicans have been trying to beat the drum that this is some kind of criminal action, but it's really just been found to be sloppiness and carelessness," Corroon said.

That's better than an indictment, he said, "but clearly not a good thing."

Both Clinton and Trump lagged behind other candidates in the state's presidential preference caucus in March, and recent polls have shown Trump's lead narrowing despite the state's reliably Republican reputation.

Chris Karpowitz, co-director of BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, said he believes the email issue will continue to dog Clinton through the general election.

Karpowitz said the FBI director, who called Clinton "extremely careless," gave the GOP plenty of ammunition against the Democratic candidate. "I would guess that comment would be loudly advertised by Republicans in the state," he said.

Jason Perry, head of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics and a former state and federal prosecutor, said declining to file charges "is not the same as saying someone didn't do something that shouldn't have been done."

The email issue will stay with voters thanks to Comey's sharp words, Perry said. "It will still be a source of great political rhetoric," he said, to question Clinton's trustworthiness.

Other members of Utah's all-Republican congressional delegation jumped on the issue quickly.

Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, said the public needs more information about a conclusion from the FBI that "defies explanation" and suggests that Clinton is being held to a different standard.

"Failing to prosecute Hillary Clinton for mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent," Love said in a statement.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said in a statement that the FBI announcement "illustrated that this was not an isolated incident, but rather continuous habits that may have endangered American lives."

Bishop said while he wasn't "sure justice would be best served with jail time," he'd like Clinton to "acknowledge that her actions were either incompetent, illegal or both."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a statement that Comey made it clear that "Clinton's unauthorized actions risked revealing classified information and endangered our national security."

Hatch said even if the case "is not formally prosecuted in court, it is yet another reminder that the Clintons consider themselves above the law and refuse to play by the same rules as the rest of us."

Contributing: Ladd Egan

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