Republicans didn’t get what they wanted out of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of State, so they’re moving to plan B. Or is it plan A1? It’s hard to tell, since it’s more of the same. Yup, House Republicans are pressing for a new FBI investigation of Clinton since the first one concluded that “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring a case against her.
[House Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz] asked Comey if the FBI had investigated whether the statements Clinton made under oath about her email when she appeared before the Benghazi committee last year had been accurate. Comey said that the bureau had not examined those statements and explained that there had been no "referral" from Congress on that matter.
"Do you need a referral from Cingress to investigate her statements under oath?" Chaffetz asked.
"Sure do," Comey replied.
"You'll have one, " Chaffetz said, with a laugh. "You'll have one in the next few hours."
Seriously. Comey: No reasonable prosecutor would bring a case on the thing we investigated. House Republicans: Okay, so investigate this other thing! Just keep investigating new things until you find something we can use.
It really is like the 1990s all over again.
The beauty of this is 1) Republicans will get to point to an ongoing FBI investigation of Clinton as if it’s some high-minded thing about justice rather than something they specifically requested for partisan reasons; and 2) tripping Clinton up on her understanding of the technology involved in her email server is probably not going to be too difficult. She is an expert on many things, but tech does not appear to be her area. This is also a strategy Republicans need since, so far, they don't appear to be getting what they wanted from Comey, who insisted that the FBI’s investigation had been done in “an apolitical and a professional way” and that “it’s not true” that the Clintons benefit from a double standard.