FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch will decide for themselves whether they will trudge up to Capitol Hill in response to Republican requests to testify about the Hillary Clinton email investigation, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Wednesday.
The Obama administration has “gone to great lengths to cooperate with even the most unfair of congressional inquiries,” Earnest said in response to calls from some GOP leaders to make them explain their actions in the investigation. “That’s the principle that we have lived by.”
Comey and Lynch “are going to make decisions based on their own expertise and their own judgment about the best way to cooperate with that congressional oversight,” Earnest said. “They understand the importance of protecting the independence of their investigations.”
Earnest said the White House has kept its distance from the investigation.
“But as it relates to congressional influence, and whether it is undue or inappropriate, I have confidence in the ability of the attorney general and the director of the FBI to protect the integrity and independence of those investigations,” he said. “They’ve been doing that for quite some time now, and I’m confident that they can do so as this process continues.”
