FBI officials failed to aggressively question Hillary Clinton about her intentions in setting up a private email system, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) claimed this week, exposing a potential key vulnerability in the bureau’s investigation.
“I didn’t see that many questions on that issue,” Gowdy told Fox News’s “The Kelly File” on Wednesday evening.
{mosads}The detail could be crucial for Republican critics of the FBI’s decision not to recommend charges be filed against the former secretary of State for mishandling classified information.
FBI Director James Comey’s argument hinged on the declaration that even though Clinton’s email setup was “extremely careless,” there was no intention to remove sensitive information outside of secure spaces. As such, no charge could be filed, he claimed.
“I know no reasonable prosecutor would bring this case,” Comey testified on Capitol Hill last month.
Gowdy, the chairman of the all but defunct Select Committee on Benghazi, has examined a summary of the 3.5-hour interview the FBI conducted with Clinton, which was given to Congress earlier this month.
“I looked to see what witnesses were questioned on the issue of intent, including her,” he said on Fox News. “I didn’t see that many questions on that issue.”
Gowdy and other prominent congressional Republicans have accused the Justice Department of creating a double standard by failing to charge Clinton for mishandling government secrets. A lower-level official who had performed the same acts, they have said, would have been handed a federal indictment.
Any evidence to suggest that the FBI went soft in its interview with the Democratic presidential nominee is only likely to inflame those allegations.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) has called for the FBI to create unclassified versions of the Clinton case file that it gave to Congress, so that the material can be released publicly.
Gowdy reiterated the call on Fox News.
“There’s no reason in the world you could not and should not be able to look at the same witness interviews that I had to go to Washington and look at in a classified setting,” he said.
Clinton’s presidential campaign has also called for the full set of materials to be released publicly, to avoid what they have warned would be selective and politically motivated leaks by GOP lawmakers.