Chaffetz will question FBI director about Clinton recommendation

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — FBI Director James Comey is set to testify Thursday before a congressional committee headed by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, to explain the decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton over her handling of classified emails.

But Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told the Deseret News he doesn't expect the hearing to result in Comey reopening the case against the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

"I'm under no illusion that we're going to change his mind," he said. "What we're trying to get to is: What it is that he saw, what it is that he learned, and how did he go about that? Who did they speak with — and not speak with?"

Chaffetz said he also wants to "get into the specificity of the allegations" against Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state, suggesting that she should have faced charges based on the facts presented by Comey.

"The FBI director said that it was 'extremely careless.' That seems to be synonymous with the law that says gross negligence is the standard" rather than criminal intent, he said.

Still, Chaffetz said lawmakers can't force any legal action to be taken. The yearlong case was formally closed Wednesday by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who accepted Comey's recommendation not to prosecute.

"They don't give Congress handcuffs. They don't give Congress the ability to indict people. That's for the executive branch. What we can do is shine light on this situation," Chaffetz said.

He said the hearing into what he called a "surprising and confusing" recommendation from Comey was not politically motivated.

"We're doing our jobs. The hearing comes 48 hours after the director made his surprise announcement. We're doing this is a rapid fashion," Chaffetz said.

He said the hearing was set for Thursday at Comey's request.

"He understands the need for more information," Chaffetz said after speaking with Comey on Tuesday. "It can't happen soon enough. They have dragged this out for years."

But the congressman also had initial concerns about "the full scope of what we can and cannot do in that setting. … We can ask anything that we want. The question is: What are the answers going to be?"

Now that the FBI investigation is closed without charges being recommended, Chaffetz said he believes "there's no reason why they should not share all that information with Congress and certainly with the American people."

Also on the witness list for Thursday's hearing are federal inspectors general who reviewed Clinton's use of a private email server. Chaffetz said details of the FBI's case appear to be in conflict with the inspector general's findings.

In May, the State Department's inspector general said Clinton should have sought permission to use the private server, but the request was never made and would have been denied.

Another member of Utah's all-GOP congressional delegation, Rep. Chris Stewart, also intends to question Comey about the case when the FBI director appears before the House Intelligence Committee in a closed-door briefing.

"The work we do on (the intelligence committee) is not as public obviously, but in some ways more important," Stewart told KSL Newsradio's Doug Wright on Wednesday. The committee has already reviewed some top-secret emails on Clinton's server.

Stewart said the committee will be able to discuss with Comey details of the information in the emails, which he has said includes "classified human assets" whose identity could be compromised.

He also has questions about Clinton's staff members at the State Department who transferred information to her private servers, saying they need to be held accountable because they "did at least as much as she did."

Comey regularly appears before the committee on a variety of issues, but his next meeting with members has not yet been announced, according to Stewart's spokeswoman, Allison Leavitt.