Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday said the controversy over Hillary Clinton’s private email set-up should and will continue to dog the likely Democratic presidential nominee.
“The fact of the matter is that the secretary is not above the law. I think the American people expect that the Congress and the administration will uphold the rule of law,” Mr. Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, said on Fox Business Network.
“I think [if] the American people hold to that standard, I don’t think that she can walk away from this. This is something that will dog her throughout this process, and it should,” he said.
“Because after all, if she’s going to be president of the United States and is this careless, this reckless with America’s national secrets, that’s an issue in a campaign but it’s also an issue for anybody who wants to serve in the White House,” he said.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who last week accepted the FBI’s recommendation that Mrs. Clinton not be charged over her private email set-up, is scheduled to testify before Mr. Goodlatte’s committee on Tuesday.
Mr. Goodlatte and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who chairs the House oversight committee, are also pushing for an investigation into whether Mrs. Clinton lied when she testified to Congress — a move her campaign dismissed on CNN Tuesday as partisan overreach.
Mr. Goodlatte conceded that the idea of going too far and allowing Mrs. Clinton to use the situation to her advantage is something they have to be careful about.
“We need to focus on it in the context of the responsibility of the Congress to conduct oversight,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.