BUT THE EMAILS

Republican Tries to Make Mueller Hearing About Hillary’s Emails

“Couldn’t President Obama be charged, under your interpretation, with obstruction of justice?” Rep. Ben Cline asked.

Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) used his time with Robert Mueller to make things about Hillary Clinton’s emails on Wednesday. During Mueller’s congressional testimony, Cline claimed the former special counsel has a “broad” theory of liability, relating it back to Clinton’s private email server. “On October 11th, 2015, during the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, President Obama said: ‘I don’t think it posed a national security problem.’ He later said, ‘I can tell you that this is not a situation in which America’s national security was endangered,’” Cline said. “Assuming for a moment his comments did influence the investigation, couldn’t President Obama be charged, under your interpretation, with obstruction of justice?”

Mueller attempted to steer the conversation back to his report, but Cline continued to bring up hypotheticals involving Clinton’s emails. “In August 2015, a very senior DOJ official called FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe expressing concern that FBI agents were still openly pursuing the Clinton Foundation probe,” Cline said. “McCabe questioned this official, asking, ‘Are you telling me I need to shut down a badly predicated the investigation?’ to which the official replied, ‘Of course not.’ This seems to be a clear example of somebody within the executive branch attempting to influence an FBI investigation.” Mueller again avoided weighing in on Cline’s assertion, instead referring him back to the report.

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Marianne Dodson

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