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BoscoX -> RE: Senate announces probe of Loretta Lynch obstruction (6/24/2017 5:18:02 AM)
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FR
Republican Lawmakers Call for Investigation Into James Comey and Robert Mueller
Three Republican House Oversight Committee members on Friday called for an investigation into former FBI Director James Comey and Special Counsel Robert Mueller for acting in a partisan manner and applying double standards when it came to the Obama and Trump administrations.
Reps. Jim Jordan (OH), Mark Meadows (NC), and Jody Hice (GA) said Comey misled the American people last year when he agreed to then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s request that he call an investigation into Hillary Clinton a “matter” instead of an investigation.
“He did it willfully. He did it intentionally. And he did it at the direction of Attorney General Loretta Lynch,” they wrote in a piece published on foxnews.com.
They also said Comey misled the American people in the early weeks of the Trump administration by “furthering the perception that President Trump was under investigation, when in fact he was not.”
“He again did this willfully and intentionally,” they wrote.
They also pointed out that Comey recently admitted having a friend leak one of his memos detailing a private conversation he had with Trump, after Trump fired him.
Comey admitted doing so to spark the appointment of a special counsel for the investigation into Russian interference and any collusion with the Trump campaign.
That person appointed was Robert Mueller — Comey’s “mentor and predecessor,” they wrote.
“The American people want justice to be blind. They want equal justice and equal protection for everyone. But Mr. Comey’s actions continue to call his impartiality, and the impartiality of the Holder and Lynch Justice departments, into question,” they said.
They pointed out that on May 7, 2014, the House passed a resolution calling for a special counsel to investigate the IRS targeting of conservatives for their political beliefs.
“Comey and Attorney General Eric Holder blocked the appointment. This despite the fact that the lead investigator they assigned to the case, Barbara Bosserman, was a max-out contributor to President Obama’s reelection campaign,” they wrote.
“This is the type of unequal justice that Americans despise. No special counsel in the IRS targeting investigation. No special counsel for the Clinton email investigation. But if it’s about protecting Comey’s reputation and hurting President Trump, then of course there has to be a special counsel,” they said.
They said throughout 2015 and 2016, there were calls from Congress for a special counsel for the Clinton email scandal, but the Justice Department refused, even after it was revealed that Lynch had met privately with Bill Clinton.
They also said Mueller’s impartiality was questionable. Four weeks after the Treasury’s inspector general released a report on the IRS targeting scandal and the Justice Department began their investigation into it, Mueller could not even answer basic questions about the investigation during testimony.
“Investigating the targeting of conservatives by the IRS, which was the biggest story in the news at the time, was clearly not a priority for Mr. Mueller. As FBI director, he didn’t even know who was doing what,” they wrote.
In contrast, Mueller has handpicked a team of investigators for the Trump investigation.
“You’d better believe Mr. Mueller has handpicked the exact team he wants,” they wrote. They said that team included:
James Quarles, a partner at WilmerHale, was a $10,000 contributor to House and Senate Democrats. He also has a long history of supporting Democratic presidential candidates, including Dukakis, Gore, Kerry, Obama and Clinton.
Jeannie Rhee, a senior adviser to former Attorney General Eric Holder, was an Obama and Clinton supporter. She also represented the Clinton foundation in litigation, and personally represented Hillary Clinton.
Andrew Weissmann, a former Justice Department official, was also an Obama contributor.
Elizabeth Prelogar, a former law clerk for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan, donated to both the Obama and Clinton presidential campaigns.
So far, they said, of the dozen people named to Mueller’s team, “none have similarly supported Republican presidential candidates.”
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