Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, demanded Monday that the FBI disclose whether it’s investigating Donald Trump or anyone with close ties to the Republican presidential nominee to avoid a double standard after the agency announced its reopening of the Hillary Clinton email probe last week.
“If it is comes out after the election that the FBI kept secret from the American people the fact that it was investigating former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, or seeking access to his emails, or investigating anyone else associated with Trump, then I have no idea how Director [James] Comey will be able to explain his actions,” Cumming, D-Md., said in a statement to reporters.
“I do not know how Director Comey will justify his decision to withhold information relating to Trump while publicly announcing ongoing investigative steps against his opponent just days before the election,” he added.
Despite reaffirming his “great personal respect” for Comey, Cummings joined other top Democrats who have admonished the FBI director for making his decision to revisit the investigation into Clinton’s handling of classified material public less than two weeks before the Nov. 8 presidential election.
First, Comey “submitted to relentless Republican demands to produce the FBI’s interview notes, internal memos and other evidence in the [Clinton email] case,” Cummings said. “Now he has gone even further by making public future investigative steps the FBI plans to take.”
“Yet, Director Comey has declined to discuss any details whatsoever in the reported FBI investigation of Donald Trump’s campaign manager and his ties with Russian interests, he has refused to say whether FBI agents are examining Roger Stone’s advance knowledge of WikiLeaks and illegal Russian hacks and he has provided no information to the public about the FBI’s role in investigating numerous other troubling connections between Donald Trump, his associates and Russian interests.”
Comey’s announcement came in a letter to congressional committee heads last Friday after federal investigators briefed him on their discovery of thousands of emails on a device belonging to ex-congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. The emails were found during an unrelated investigation into Weiner’s inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old female.
In his letter, Comey said the emails may be “pertinent” to the Clinton email case, though he declined to provide additional details. Investigators reportedly obtained a warrant that will allow them to begin their review of the new emails.
“Members of Congress, including myself, have asked for months for the FBI to provide us with information as to whether Mr. Trump, Mr. Manafort, other associates and the Russian government have any coordination or connection with each other,” Cummings told CNN Monday morning. “So the question is … do we have a double standard here?”
