A top Republican senator is demanding answers from the FBI, arguing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received “kid gloves” treatment during the bureau's investigation into her private email server, especially compared to the raid of Mar-a-Lago.
Clinton was the subject of a lengthy investigation, at the end of which she was not prosecuted. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) wants FBI Director Christopher Wray to answer questions about the FBI's handling of the Clinton investigation, as well as the investigation into former President Donald Trump in the wake of the Mar-a-Lago raid.
“The reporting thus far draws contrasts from how the Justice Department and FBI treated Secretary Clinton’s mishandling of highly classified information,” Grassley told Wray. “Even though Secretary Clinton and her attorneys did not hand over classified records in their possession for many months, they were not subject to a raid similar to what occurred at Mar-a-Lago.”
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The FBI's Clinton investigation looked into her use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. It was hosted in the basement of her New York home.
“Based on news reports, Trump has not been provided the same treatment given to Secretary Clinton and her associates,” Grassley said, adding that he raised concerns in 2016 with Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch about Clinton and her associates "receiving kid gloves treatment."
The senator asked, “Did the FBI engage in the same conduct with respect to former President Trump and Mar-a-Lago? If not, why not?”
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Grassley also pointed specifically to the “infamous Wilkinson letters” by Beth Wilkinson, an attorney who represented former Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills and Mills deputy Heather Samuelson.
The senator said the letters were “incorporated by reference into the immunity agreements” for Mills and Samuelson, with the letters laying out “the precise manner” by which the Justice Department and FBI would access and use information stored on email archives from laptops belonging to the duo.
Grassley said the letters “inappropriately restricted the scope of the FBI’s investigation” and that the bureau “inexplicably agreed to destroy” the Mills and Samuelson laptops despite them being under congressional subpoena.
Clinton was investigated under 18 U.S.C. 793(f), whose statute cites “gross negligence.” Comey said that “although we did not find clear evidence” that Clinton or her associates “intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.” An earlier FBI draft used the term "grossly negligent."
Trump is being investigated for a possible Espionage Act violation under 18 U.S.C. and possible obstruction of justice, according to the warrant unsealed Friday.
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Attorney General Merrick Garland said last week that he “personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant. The Justice Department is opposing making public the underlying affidavit justifying the raid.
Grassley asked if Wray was aware of the pending Mar-a-Lago raid when he was in front of the Senate, when he and Garland approved it, what discussions he and the attorney general had about it, what the legal justification for the search was, and what the investigation scope is. The senator also asked Wray if he discussed the warrant with anyone at the White House.