The lawmaker who oversees the FBI said Director James Comey made the right call in disclosing his renewed investigation into Hillary Clinton’s secret emails, but said more disclosure is needed — including assurances that the probe won’t be hindered by the kinds of restrictions that constrained it before.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, fired a four-page memo to Mr. Comey asking for a complete rundown of the new emails agents say they’ve uncovered. He said the agency owes voters more information than they’ve been given so far.
But Mr. Grassley said just as important is that the FBI not limit its own probe by forgoing tools such as a grand jury, with subpoena powers.
“In the absence of additional, authoritative information from the FBI in the wake of your vague disclosure, Congress and the American people are left to sift through anonymous leaks from Justice Department officials to the press of varying levels of detail, reliability, and consistency,” Mr. Grassley said. “The American people deserve better than that.”
Mr. Comey closed out his investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s emails in July, ruling that while she did mishandle top-secret information, she was too technologically inept and had too little understanding of classified information for prosecutors to prove she intended to break secrecy laws.
The new emails the FBI has found reportedly were handled by Mrs. Clinton’s top personal aide Huma Abedin, and were recovered in an unrelated investigation into her estranged husband’s sex-related texting habits.
Mr. Comey has said the emails may be “pertinent,” but has not given any more details.
In the previous investigation, the FBI and Justice Department prosecutors offered immunity to several witnesses and struck side agreements limiting how they would obtain and use some of the email evidence in the case. Republicans criticized those decisions at the time, while Democrats praised them.
Now it’s Democrats who are furious at Mr. Comey, saying his decision to renew the probe, coming less than two weeks before Election Day, is unfair.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.