Rep. Darrell Issa called for a criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton Wednesday after the former secretary of state shifted control of her private email server to the Justice Department.
“Months after we learned about Clinton’s secret e-mail server, the FBI and DOJ have finally mustered the motivation necessary to take it into their custody,” the California Republican said. “The only reasonable path forward is a criminal investigation.”
Issa, who served as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee before stepping down last session due to term limits, noted other prominent figures who had faced legal consequences for similarly mishandling classified information.
For example, Sandy Berger, a national security adviser to former President Bill Clinton, narrowly avoided felony charges in 2003 after removing classified documents from the National Archives.
Berger informally advised Hillary Clinton on a number of Middle East issues during her State Department tenure, emails show.
Issa also highlighted similarities between Hillary Clinton’s actions and those of General David Petraeus, who faced a legal firestorm after he mishandled classified information. Both the Justice Department and the FBI recommended Petraeus be hit with felony charges.
“If any other American had shown the same disregard for securing classified information that Hillary Clinton showed, the United States government would move quickly and decisively to hold them responsible.,” Issa said.
He noted Hillary Clinton transmitted “significantly more” classified documents than did Berger.
“The only remaining question is whether she will be held accountable for her actions,” Issa said.
The intelligence community inspector general said Tuesday Hillary Clinton had stored emails classified as “top secret” — the highest level of government classification — and that several were classified at the time they were sent, contrary to her previous claims.
