Judicial Watch sues for FBI chart on statutes for prosecuting Hillary Clinton
A conservative watchdog group is suing the Justice Department for any copies of a chart that may show statutes by which former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could have been prosecuted for the use of an unauthorized private email server.
The lawsuit comes after the agency declined to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request, Judicial Watch announced on Monday.
This chart was discussed during testimony last year by Bill Priestap, who served as assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s counterintelligence division. A transcript of that closed-door testimony shows an email from an unknown individual in the FBI general counsel’s office, sent to Priestap's former superior Michael Steinbach, had a chart of “available statutes for prosecuting the former Secretary of State" which did not include "gross negligence."
Asked to talk about it, Priestap said he didn't know who sent the email or why they used the language, "DOJ not willing to charge this." However, he did say his "attitude is that if there is a Federal criminal statute still on the books, then, you know — and we think there may or might be a violation of that, we still have to work to uncover whether, in fact, there was."
In a separate hearing, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page said officials in the bureau, including then-FBI Director James Comey, discussed Espionage Act charges against Clinton, citing “gross negligence," but the Justice Department shut them down.
This all goes back to the FBI’s "Midyear Exam" investigation, which looked into whether Clinton committed crimes when she sent and received classified information on her unauthorized private email server while serving as secretary of state. Comey cleared Clinton of all charges in a press conference on July 5, 2016.
In its lawsuit, Judicial Watch also demands draft copies of FBI talking points after Comey's press conference.
“Judicial Watch will continue to press for the chart the FBI has been hiding which details possible violations of law by Hillary Clinton” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “Now that the Mueller investigation has ended, the FBI has the time and manpower to focus on an investigation of Clinton unencumbered by Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page and their anti-Trump colleagues.”
The transcript of closed-door testimony by former Attorney General Loretta Lynch was released on Monday. In it Lynch denied under oath that she ever made any law enforcement decisions at the Justice Department that were for political reasons, including in regards to the Clinton email investigation.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/watchdog-sues-for-fbi-chart-on-statutes-for-prosecuting-hillary-clinton