House GOP wants independent probe of Hillary Clinton aides' special treatment

By Kathryn Watson, DCNF

Republican members of the House Committee on the Judiciary are calling on two agency watchdogs to investigate the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI’s “special treatment” of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s closest aides.

Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte and his GOP colleagues on the panel asked Department of State Inspector General Steve Linick and DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz Tuesday to scrutinize the FBI’s decision to let Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson attend the Democratic presidential candidate’s FBI interview while they were immunized witnesses with a “conflict of interest” in the FBI investigation into Clinton’s private email server.

“Allowing them to sit in on Secretary Clinton’s interview raises questions as to whether a serious interview of Secretary Clinton was ever even contemplated,” the letter said. “In fact, it offered Ms. Mills and Ms. Samuelson an opportunity to further corroborate their stories with the target of the FBI’s investigation — Secretary Clinton — and have insight into questions being asked of Secretary Clinton regarding communications to which they may have been parties.”

Mills and Samuelson could have prepped Clinton with information ahead of her interview, as FBI officials had already interviewed them, the letter said.

FBI Director James Comey told members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform last month the FBI doesn’t have the ability to prohibit any attorney from attending a subject’s interview. Goodlatte’s letter questioned whether Mills and Samuelson are licensed lawyers. Clinton didn’t need Mills and Samuelson, as lawyers at “prestigious” D.C.-based firm Williams & Connolly represented her, the letter said.

The Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported DOJ officials let Clinton’s closest aides shape the FBI’s investigation into her private email server, including allowing them to destroy official records and laptops.

The letter said this is a “tailor-made case for independent review,” as “neither the FBI nor DOJ are in a position to investigate their own actions in connection with the Clinton interview.”

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