Republican Sen. Ron Johnson says he wants his staff to look into a possible Senate committee review of the FBI’s recommendation not to bring criminal charges against Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state.
FBI Director James Comey said Tuesday that Clinton was “extremely careless” handling classified data on a private server, but said “no reasonable prosecutor” would pursue a case against her. Johnson said he wonders if Clinton’s actions rise to the level of a criminal negligence.
“I’m not a prosecutor. I’m not a lawyer. But ‘extremely careless’ versus grossly negligent. I don’t understand the distinction,” Johnson said, speaking at the Rotary Club of Milwaukee Tuesday. “From my standpoint, it’s unbelievably reckless for the Secretary to expose America’s national security information.”
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So Johnson, who chairs the Senate’s Governmental Affairs Committee said he’s asked his staff to look at whether the panel should review the FBI’s recommendation.
Asked whether he agreed with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump’s comment on Twitter that the “system is rigged,” Johnson said, “It certainly looks like there’s two sets of standards. It just does.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story featuring Associated Press content has been updated with original reporting.
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