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Chaffetz: ‘Years’ of Clinton investigations to come

by Mallory Shelbourne - 10/26/16 1:51 PM ET

House Republicans are preparing for “years” of investigations into the record of a possible future President Hillary Clinton, a top GOP official said this week.

“It’s a target-rich environment,” House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) told The Washington Post, adding Republicans will have ample material to work with given Clinton’s four years leading the State Department.

{mosads}“Even before we get to Day One, we’ve got two years worth of material already lined up. She has four years of history at the State Department, and it ain’t good,” he said.

“It’s not like the State Department was bending over backwards to help us understand what was going on. We’ve got document destruction. We’ve got their own rogue system,” he continued. “We’ve got classified information out the door. We’ve got [the Clinton Foundation] doing who knows what. I mean, it took them four years just to release her schedule.”

Chaffetz’s committee, which is charged with oversight, has been behind much of the criticism surrounding Clinton’s State Department tenure, which included the 2012 attacks in Benghazi that left four Americans dead and scrutiny over Clinton’s handling of classified information while serving as secretary of State.

The Utah Republican also told the Post that it would not be beneficial for Clinton to bring the same aides from the State Department into her administration should she win the White House.

“It depends on who stays and who goes,” Chaffetz said.

“If Hillary Clinton brings in the same gang — Loretta Lynch, Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, Jake Sullivan — she has her cast of characters. If they put on the same play, she’s not going to get good reviews from the critics. Every single time we turn around, this puzzle gets more complicated with more pieces to it.”

Chaffetz, whose ability to probe Clinton rests on Republicans maintaining control of the House, told the newspaper it could lead to political crises reminiscent of Watergate.

“If [they] continue to erect walls and shore up the turrets, then yeah, it’s going to be a battle,” he told the newspaper.

“But if they act like they’re supposed to, if they comply with subpoenas and actually respond to requests from Congress, well, our republic requires that.”

Tags Hillary Clinton Jason Chaffetz