DoJ will not bring any charges against Clinton over email use – AG Lynch
US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that the Justice Department’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s storage of classified emails on a private server will be closed, according to AP. No criminal charges will brought against the former secretary of state.
The Wednesday announcement comes a day after FBI Director James Comey said that the agency recommended that the DoJ bring no charges against Clinton. However, Comey said that Clinton and her aides were “extremely careless” in their handling of highly sensitive material.
“Late this afternoon, I met with FBI Director James Comey and career prosecutors and agents who conducted the investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email system during her time as Secretary of State,” Lynch said in a Wednesday statement. “I received and accepted their unanimous recommendation that the thorough, year-long investigation be closed and that no charges be brought against any individuals within the scope of the investigation.”
Loretta Lynch herself became the center of controversy during the Justice Department’s investigation due to her private meeting with Bill Clinton at the end of August.
In response, the attorney general decided to partially take herself out of the case by deferring to the recommendation of the FBI and others in the Justice Department.
House Speaker Paul Ryan vowed Wednesday that congressional Republicans will make their own inquiries into the FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email use, possibly using a special prosecutor. He said that the House of Representatives would not rule out using any tools to see if Clinton had received preferential treatment from the FBI.
Comey is expected to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday, chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said in a statement.
The Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is also asking the FBI to explain its recommendation in writing.
"If the evidence that the FBI collected about Secretary Clinton’s use of a private email account and server did not constitute gross negligence, what set of facts would cause the FBI to recommend criminal charges under the gross negligence standard?" the commmitee's chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) has asked Comey in a letter.
