Report: Three More Hillary Clinton Aides Got Immunity Deals
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) thinks he’s figured out why no one was prosecuted following the FBI’s yearlong investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state.
Just about every major player in the investigation was granted immunity.
According to a new report Friday morning, the Department of Justice provided varying levels of immunity to three additional top Clinton aides. They are her former chief of staff, Cheryl Mills; former director of the State Department’s Office of Information Resources Management, John Bentel; and 2008 Clinton campaign legal aide Heather Samuelson.
“No wonder they couldn’t prosecute a case,” Chaffetz said. “They were handing out immunity deals like candy.”
Reportedly, Mills’ immunity deal pertained to her allowing the FBI access to her personal laptop computer. She did so on the condition that she could not be prosecuted for anything found on it. Samuelson was given a similar immunity offer.
The FBI informed Chaffetz and another member of the oversight committee, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), of the additional immunity deals on Friday. Jordan has yet to comment, but Chaffetz was clearly unhappy with the FBI and Director James Comey.
“This is beyond explanation,” he said in a statement put out by his office. “I’ve lost confidence in this investigation and I question the genuine effort in which it was carried out. Immunity deals should not be a requirement for cooperating with the FBI.”
And, in another breaking development Friday morning, the State Department announced in federal court the FBI handed over an additional 2,800 emails that Clinton’s lawyers hadn’t handed over after her tenure as secretary of state. It says it will begin “rolling out” those emails next month—and according to Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, who announced the news, less than 10 percent of those emails will be made public before the Nov. 8 election.
“The State Department is being obstructionist,” he said during a Friday morning press conference.