Republicans look to seize on revived
Clinton email issue in White House, Congress races
Send a link to a friend
[November 02, 2016]
By Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans are
seizing on the FBI's revived scrutiny of Hillary Clinton's handling of
government emails, hoping it will hurt not just her presidential hopes
but Democrats' chances of regaining one or both chambers of Congress in
next week's election.
Republican lawmakers are threatening to investigate Clinton from her
first day in office if the Democrat is elected president on Nov. 8,
following the FBI's move to review newly discovered emails that might
pertain to a previously completed investigation into Clinton's use of a
private server while she was secretary of state.
After FBI Director James Comey's announcement last Friday of the latest
review, which indicated no wrongdoing on Clinton's part, Republican
presidential candidate Donald Trump and other Republicans have hammered
Clinton as scandal-prone, seeking to renew questions about her
integrity.
A Clinton presidency would bog down in "scandal baggage," U.S. House of
Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday, adding he was focused
on defending Republican majorities in Congress in the election.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Nov/02/images/ads/current/graue_sda_june2015.png)
"This is what life with the Clintons looks like. It's always a scandal
one after another, then there's an investigation," Ryan, the most senior
elected Republican in the country, told Fox News in an interview. "You
never know what's coming next."
Saying that Clinton would take office "with her scandal baggage," Ryan
added: "I don’t think that’s what the American people want to see.”
Clinton has said she is confident the FBI will not find anything
problematic and will reach the same conclusion it did in July when it
found no grounds for charges from her use of a private email server.
Opinion polls show Clinton maintaining her lead over Trump, although her
advantage has narrowed slightly since early last week. The effect of
Comey's news on voters' support is not yet clear.
The University of Virginia's Center for Politics said this week that
several key states, including Arizona, Florida and Ohio, were now
considered "toss up," having earlier been classified as leaning
Democratic, saying the races had been tightening regardless of any
"Comey Effect."
"If Comey’s decision results in Republicans holding onto the Senate and
losing fewer House seats because he has invigorated their 'checks and
balances' argument, we will also attribute this to the Comey Effect,"
the center's Larry Sabato and his colleagues wrote.
GRAPHIC: Race to the White House http://tmsnrt.rs/298mTyD
'SAVING HOUSE MAJORITY'
Ryan maintained the arms-length posture toward Trump that he adopted
after a 2005 video emerged last month in which the New York businessman
was heard boasting about groping women.
The Wisconsin Republican said he voted for Trump in early voting last
week, but that his position had not changed and that he had no plans to
campaign with his party's nominee, instead focusing on maintaining
Republicans' control of the House.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/110216PICS/news_v37.jpg)
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) leaves after his weekly news
conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 22, 2016.
REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_090916.png)
"My focus personally right now is saving our House majority. I’m
going to Indiana, Michigan, New York and Virginia today to fight for
House Republicans," Ryan told Fox.
While Republicans appear poised to keep control of the House, the
race for the Senate remains evenly matched, according to an average
of polls by RealClearPolitics.
Some conservative members of the Republican caucus in the House,
unhappy with Ryan's treatment of Trump and his handling of other
issues on Capitol Hill, have questioned whether he should continue
as speaker after the election.
"We're all focused on beating Democrats on Nov. 8. All the rest of
this stuff will sort itself out," Ryan told Fox News. "I'm very
confident where I stand with our members."
Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn called on Tuesday for Attorney
General Loretta Lynch, a Barack Obama appointee, to intervene over
the Clinton email probe. "AG Lynch has authority to unravel Clinton
email mess by appointing a special counsel who can convene an
impartial grand jury," Cornyn wrote on Twitter.
Such a move would all but guarantee that controversy over Clinton's
emails would simmer into 2017 and perhaps beyond, potentially tying
up her agenda if she were elected to the White House. Some
Republican senators have already also vowed to block any hearing on
Clinton's potential Supreme Court justice nominees to fill the
court's current vacancy.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Nov/02/images/ads/current/lpd_basketball_lda_100416.png)
Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz told
the Washington Post last week he had years' worth of potential
material that could be used to investigate Clinton.
California Republican Darrell Issa, a House Judiciary Committee
member, told Fox Business Network late on Monday: "I suspect there
will be more hearings" following the latest email probe.
(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan; Editing
by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |