Trump allies urge criminal investigations of Clinton, Comey, Lynch

Rep. Ron DeSantis is pictured. | Getty

Eleven House conservatives are calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray to mount criminal investigations into a slew of former Obama administration leaders and high-ranking Justice Department officials — including Hillary Clinton, James Comey and Loretta Lynch.

“In doing so, we are especially mindful of the dissimilar degrees of zealousness that has marked the investigations into Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter released Wednesday by Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.).

The push represents the latest counter-attack from the right against the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign — an investigation that Trump continues to rail against.

The lawmakers describe a variety of potential crimes in calling for the new inquiries. They accuse Comey of leaking classified information, Clinton of concealing campaign payments to an opposition research firm and Lynch of threatening an informant with “reprisal” if he came forward with anti-Clinton information in 2016.

They also demand new criminal investigations into top FBI officials who signed off on a surveillance warrant for former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Those officials, they say, include former acting attorney general Sally Yates, former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe and former acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente.

Boente, a former U.S. attorney, was recently tapped by Wray as FBI general counsel.

Citing a Wall Street Journal editorial, the GOP lawmakers also say two FBI officials — former senior counterintelligence official Peter Strzok and bureau attorney Lisa Page — should be criminally investigated for downplaying a reference to President Barack Obama in the statement announcing the FBI’s decision not to charge Clinton.

The letter is largely a product of Trump’s closest allies in Congress, including two — DeSantis and Indiana Rep. Todd Rokita — seeking statewide office. DeSantis is a candidate for governor in Florida where he’s counting on the support of Trump, who has endorsed him.

nullA slew of House Freedom Caucus members also signed on, including GOP Reps. Dave Brat, Andy Harris, Andy Biggs, Jeff Duncan, Paul Gosar, Jody Hice and Ted Yoho. GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz and Claudia Tenney signed on as well.

The letter is also addressed to John Huber, a U.S. attorney from Utah who was deputized by Sessions in November to assist a DOJ watchdog in a probe of the FBI’s handling of the 2016 Clinton investigation.