January 18, 2018 Thin Skein

Joint House Judiciary and Oversight Committees

Clinton Email Server

From The Hill (January 18, 2018):

Two House panels on Thursday questioned former FBI Director James Comey’s former chief of staff during a closed-door interview that lasted over seven hours.

FBI official James Rybicki faced questions from lawmakers on the House Judiciary and Oversight committees as part of a joint investigation into the way the bureau handled the investigation into former secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

Democrats have slammed the investigation as a sham designed to distract from the federal investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia, while Republicans have defended it as a legitimate oversight exercise. Oversight chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) characterized the interview as nothing more than a standard deposition.

Lawmakers of both parties filtered in and out of interview tight-lipped on the details of the interview, although they largely indicated that Rybicki was cooperating with the questions. Without divulging particulars, Gowdy described it as turning up previously unknown information. Like a similar marathon interview with FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe in December, the briefing was confidential but not classified.

Rybicki — flanked by Greg Brower, the bureau’s chief liaison to Capitol Hill, and Scott Schools, a senior career attorney at the Justice Department — declined to comment on the interview.

The interview with Rybicki drew far from full attendance from either of the two committees on Thursday. Others lawmakers seen entering the hearing room Thursday morning included Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas).

Comment:

Also weighing in:

  • Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.)
  • Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.).
  • Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)

Let’s go over it one more time again. And again. Seven more hours of busy spinning conspiracy web. Your U.S. tax dollars hard at work, going straight down the drain. The unstoppable Trey Gowdy rises up for a sustained effort to champion a lost cause, since Benghazi has never stopped hurting his soul. Russian hackers, bots, and disinformation operations infiltrate being these Guardians on a Mission and corrodes our Democracy. They hold hearings while America is Stricken, and Trump.45 twits personal spite, revenge, and hurt feelings.