House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi accused Republicans of overplaying a letter to Congress from FBI Director James Comey that he has reopened an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email sever.
She also accused the GOP of bullying Comey into reversing his decision to clear Clinton of criminal wrongdoing earlier this year after an investigation into her use of a private server while she was srcretary of state.
“After an exhaustive review of Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal email server, the FBI concluded that charges would be unreasonable and unjustified,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement. “Nothing in Director Comey’s letter to the Republican Committee chairs suggests that assessment will or should change.”
Congressional Republicans have seized on the letter to attack Clinton’s candidacy. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and other GOP leaders have called on the director of national intelligence to suspend the classified briefings Clinton receives as the Democratic presidential nominee.
“Republicans have spent months attempting to bully the FBI into changing the conclusion of their review,” Pelosi said. “Sadly but predictably, Republicans are doing their best to misrepresent this letter and warp the FBI’s work to serve their partisan conspiracy-mongering against Hillary Clinton.
“The Director of the FBI himself stated that, ‘The FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant,'” she added. “Furthermore, there is not any indication that this review involves Secretary Clinton’s own use of emails. The public interest would be served by the FBI providing the facts, rather than allowing Republicans to stoke innuendo and falsehoods 11 days away from a presidential election.”
