House investigators grill Christopher Wray and Rod Rosenstein in contentious hearing about the Trump and Clinton probes
- Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray are testifying before the House Judiciary Committee about the inspector general's report on the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
- Republican lawmakers are seizing on the report's findings to question the legitimacy of the Russia probe and to demand more classified intelligence from the DOJ about the investigation.
- Democrats accuse their colleagues of playing politics, focusing on the "tired story" of Clinton's emails, and trying to force the DOJ to turn over Trump-Russia documents to discredit Rosenstein and help the White House.
Sign up for the latest Russia investigation updates here»
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray testified Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee about an inspector general report on the FBI's handling of its investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.
The FBI ultimately concluded against recommending charges against Clinton after the lengthy investigation. Though the report found no evidence of bias, political or otherwise, when the bureau closed the investigation, inspector general Michael Horowitz said senior FBI officials, including then FBI director James Comey, broke Department of Justice protocol and made serious errors in judgment.
The report did not focus on the Russia investigation. However, Republicans have seized on its findings to question the legitimacy of the Russia probe and to demand additional sensitive documents about the investigation from the DOJ.
Democrats accuse Republicans and the White House of using the report to distract from the special counsel Robert Mueller's findings in the Russia investigation.
On Thursday, the committee saw much of the same partisan squabbling.
Goodlatte: Getting the DOJ to turn over documents has been like 'pulling teeth'
House Judiciary Chair Bob Goodlatte opened the hearing with a lengthy statement condemning the political biases of FBI officials working the Clinton investigation.
He also said that getting the DOJ to turn over Trump-Russia documents to the committee "has felt like pulling teeth much of the time."
New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the top Democrat on the committee, responded to Goodlatte's remarks by issuing a lengthy statement of his own accusing Republicans of focusing on "the tired story of Hillary Clinton's emails ... plus a few conspiracy theories about the special counsel."
"When President Trump and his administration were actively separating families at the border, ripping children out of the arms of their parents and causing untold suffering to thousands of families, that did not warrant an emergency hearing from this committee," Nadler said.
"As with so many other issues, this committee has stayed silent," he added. "But on Hillary Clinton's emails? Sound the alarms."
When the DOJ refused to turn over sensitive documents about the Russia probe, Nadler said, Republicans threatened Rosenstein with contempt or impeachment proceedings.
"This is an investigation, I might remind my colleagues, that has already yielded five guilty pleas and that has led to the indictment of 20 people so far," Nadler said. "The president and some of his closest advisers are under investigation for having participated in a criminal conspiracy with a foreign power against the United States."
"That is an emergency," he said.
Rosenstein alludes to Republican demands for Russia documents
In his opening statement, Rosenstein emphasized his commitment to "rooting out abuse and misconduct when there's credible evidence that it occurred."
In light of the IG report, he said, the DOJ and FBI are committed to the need to "correct errors, hold wrongdoers accountable, and deter future violations."
Rosenstein also alluded to Republicans' continued demands for classified Russia-related documents.
"We already revised the department's confidentiality policies to emphasize that non-public sensitive information obtained in connection with our work is protected from disclosure," he said, referring to leaks to the media that may have come from within the FBI or DOJ.
"We intend to enforce that principle on our employees and we need to demonstrate respect for it ourselves by protecting sensitive information entrusted to the FBI," he added.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.