Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) slapped the FBI with a subpoena Monday during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing, insisting that that the bureau produce all of the documents in their investigative file on Hillary Clinton’s emails, rather than their own cherry-picked pages. Chaffetz told Jason Herring, acting FBI assistant for congressional affairs, that as chairman of the committee he has a duty to see all the documents in order to provide government oversight. He argued that the Obama administration was operating like a “banana republic” by withholding or blacking out documents tied to the FBI’s decision not to recommend prosecution for Clinton.
“It’s trust but verify — is how it works,” Chaffetz said. “You don’t get to decide what I get to see. I get to see it all. I was elected by some 800,000 people to come to congress and see classified information. I was elected by my colleagues here to be the chairman of this committee. That’s the way out Constitution works.”
He asked Herring,”Will the FBI provide congress with the whole file with no redactions of personal identifiable information?”
Herring said that he “could not make that commitment sitting here today.”
“Then I’m going to issue a subpoena, and I’m going to do it right now,” Chaffetz said from the dais. “I’ve signed this subpoena — we want all the 302s [summary reports from the investigation], and we would like the full file.” He added, “You are hereby served.”
See PJ Media’s News and Politics section later today for in-depth coverage of the ongoing hearing.
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