WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on the presidential campaign (all times local):
7:20 a.m.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz says he has plenty of questions for James Comey Thursday, but he doesn’t question Comey’s integrity.
The Utah Republican congressman tells MSNBC that Comey “is a man of great integrity, that’s why it’s mystifying” that Comey he recommended no charges against Hillary Clinton despite the FBI’s findings that classified information traveled through her homebrew email server.
Chaffetz’s committee is hearing from Comey Thursday about the investigation. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has accepted Comey’s recommendation, igniting an inferno of criticism that what would clearly be a criminal infraction for others went unpunished for the Democratic presidential candidate and former secretary of state.
On NBC’s “Today” show, Chaffetz said he “absolutely” would have had Attorney General James Comey testify before his committee even if the decision had been to move toward an indictment.
___
6:50 a.m.
House Speaker Paul Ryan wants the director of national intelligence to deny Hillary Clinton the type of classified briefings given to presidential nominees before the general election.
Ryan says that in light of the FBI’s findings from its investigation of Clinton’s email practices while secretary of state, barring her from classified briefings “certainly constitutes appropriate sanctions.”
The Wisconsin Republican says in a letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper that if Clapper rejects the request, Ryan wants him to provide his rationale for granting Clinton access to such information “despite the FBI’s findings.”
FBI Director James Comey said on Tuesday there was no evidence Clinton or her aides willfully or intentionally mishandled classified information and that “no reasonable prosecutor” would pursue such a case. But he cited them for being “extremely careless” and he contradicted many of the explanations Clinton has long put forward.