In an unprecedented move by the FBI, the agency has provided Congress with the notes from its investigative interview of Hillary Clinton. The contents of the notes may be enough to charge her with perjury.
These notes come to Congress in an FD-302, an official FBI document which contains the agency’s summary of responses given to them by people that they interview. The notes are classified, and several members of Congress are calling for their contents to be released to the public. Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon has also advocated for opening the notes for public reading. No member of Congress could legally make the FBI documents public without first obtaining permission from the agency.
The information contained in the FD-302 may be the only official documentation of what Hillary Clinton said during her interview. The interview lasted three and a half hours and, in a break from typical FBI protocol, was not recorded or transcribed. No one will be able to hear or read exactly what Hillary Clinton had to say for herself in her own words.
Additionally, the FBI did not administer an oath to Hillary Clinton. She could not have perjured herself during the interview, because she was not under oath (though it is still illegal to lie to the FBI).
House Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and House Judiciary Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) sent a letter to D.C.’s top federal attorney. Their letter explained, “the evidence collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) during its investigation of Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal email system during her time as Secretary of State appears to directly contradict several aspects of her sworn testimony.”
Chaffetz and Goodlatte contend that the FBI investigation results have revealed that Hillary Clinton lied in her testimony to the House Select Committee on Benghazi. That testimony was given under oath, and the letter points to four specific instances of possible perjury.
Perjury charges would not stop Hillary from running for office, but a federal case against her would present a significant hurdle. If convicted after the election, she would be removed from office, leaving us with President Kaine. Get ready for more badass harmonica solos, America.
This all depends upon whether or not the federal attorney decides to bring a case against Hillary Clinton. There is tremendous political pressure for this attorney to do nothing: Attorney General Loretta Lynch decided not to bring charges, even after FBI Director James Comey gave a press conference stating that Hillary Clinton was reckless with classified information and lied to the American people about it.
House Republicans are turning up the heat on federal officials to enforce the law. Even one of the nation’s top Democrats has said that “no bank is too big to fail, and no individual is too big to jail.” That person was Hillary Clinton -- in a rare instance of her telling the truth.