Senator Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, made the following statement after FBI Director James Comey said the FBI would not recommend criminal prosecution of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, despite finding the mishandling classified information.
“While Director Comey made it clear that Secretary Clinton and her staff were ‘extremely careless’ in handling classified information, he also recommended no criminal prosecution even though ‘gross negligence’ regarding classified information is a crime. If it wants to avoid giving the impression that the FBI was pulling punches, because many people in a similar situation would face some sort of consequence, the agency must now be more transparent than ever in releasing information gathered during its investigation. Even Director Comey said there should be extraordinary transparency. That means more than simply giving the public a brief summary of his view of the facts. It should include the actual evidence so the public can make an educated decision on its own about the judgment and decision-making of all the senior officials involved. There are plenty of FOIA and congressional requests pending that have been on hold because of the ongoing nature of the investigation, so now the FBI should respond fully and completely to all of them.”
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