A Republican lawmaker said he expects Hillary Clinton to be indicted over her private email server as secretary of state, potentially leading to impeachment if she is elected president.
“This investigation will continue whether she wins or not. But assuming she wins and the investigation goes forward and it looks like an indictment is pending,” Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, R- Texas, said on Fox News Wednesday.
“But assuming she wins, and the investigation goes forward, and it looks like an indictment is pending at that point in time under the Constitution the House of Representatives would engage in an impeachment trial. They would go to the Senate and impeachment proceedings and removal would take place.”
He said the reopening of the case by FBI Director James Comey after the discovery of emails thought to be related to the case were found on a laptop used by the Democratic presidential nominee’s longtime staffer Huma Abedin shows that “Mrs. Clinton has been running around saying she has been cleared and the investigation is over when that’s not a correct statement. There is new evidence reopening the case, and evidence that can be quite damaging.”
McCaul compared the potential political and legal fallout to the Watergate scandal, which led Republican President Richard Nixon to resign from office and expressed fears that the country could be put through a constitutional crisis because of “Clinton’s behavior.”
“The last time I can recall when this happened was Richard Nixon, who was impeached and resigned before he would have been voted to be removed from office. And remember Gerald Ford pardoned him from any criminal wrongdoing? I would hate to see this country thrown into a constitutional crisis because of Hillary Clinton’s behavior.”
McCaul said he believes that if evidence points to intent to share classified information improperly, it would be enough for an indictment.
“If we see an email that says I know that’s classified but send it anyway, that would be the kind of smoking gun the FBI is looking for. That, then, I think would be the grounds for an indictment.”
Though the FBI has not completed an investigation to determine if the contents of the emails are damaging, McCaul argued that enough evidence exists to begin legal proceedings.
“I’ve said all along this should have gone before a grand jury to take the politics out of this,” McCaul said. “For whatever reason, they chose not to do that. I think there is ample evidence with the probable cause to get a search warrant now and go before a grand jury and present this new evidence.”
