Top Democrat on the House Select Committee on Intelligence warned Sunday that the inspector general of the intelligence community has to be careful he isn’t being ‘used’ by Republicans looking to bring down Hillary Clinton.
The IG sent a letter to Intelligence Committee Republicans that said information on Clinton’s private email server had information on it that was classified above “top secret.” The leak outraged Democrats, who said the information was designed to damage Clinton’s campaign.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, argued IG Charles McCullough was allowing himself to be “used” by Republican leaders in Congress.
“You’ve got several Republican chairs who are actively campaigning against Hillary Clinton” and investigating her in the House and Senate at the same time, Schiff said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I think the inspector general has to be very careful not to allow himself to be used by one political party against the other in a presidential race.”
Schiff said the inspector general should have known his letter to Congress last week would be leaked.
But Sen. James Lankford, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, accused the Democratic frontrunner of employing a “Clinton procedure of trying to attack the messenger” by using her campaign this week to smear McCullough’s intentions.
“The inspector general is an Obama appointee. He’s doing his job,” Lankford said on the same show.
“The inspector general is not the one who’s designating these as sensitive or top secret,” the Oklahoma Republican said. “Even the State Department has continued to redact these documents over and over again.”
