Ryan calls for ‘administrative action’ against Clinton

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Wednesday called on the State Department to take “administrative action” against Hillary Clinton, one day after FBI Director James Comey recommended that no charges be filed against her for her handling of classified information while secretary of State.

“With no indictment occurring but a discussion or call for administrative action I think is the least we can do given how she was so reckless in handling classified information and sending classified information on unsecured servers,” Ryan said during a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters.

{mosads}“I think that is something the administration should do on its own, but we’ll look at seeing if that’s something [Congress] can do as well,” he said.

Asked if a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Ryan replied: “We’re not going to foreclose any options.”

Ryan wouldn’t specify exactly what the State Department should do, but Clinton could face disciplinary action, including a reprimand. Agency officials have said they won’t take any action until the Justice Department formally ends its investigation.

Comey on Tuesday infuriated Republicans by announcing that the FBI would not recommend prosecution of Clinton after a yearlong investigation into her use of private email servers while she was in charge of the State Department.

As the GOP vice presidential nominee in 2012, Ryan said he personally received classified information after the Republican National Convention that year. Just as he did on Fox News Tuesday night, Ryan again demanded that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper deny Clinton access to classified information after she officially becomes the nominee later this month at the Democratic National Convention.

“I think Clapper should deny Hillary Clinton access to classified information during this campaign given how she so recklessly handled classified information,” Ryan said.

Comey will appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Thursday to answer questions about the Clinton probe. That’s the same day presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump will huddle with House and Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Ryan, who has endorsed Trump, has spoken highly of Comey before. But on Wednesday, the Speaker said Clinton appeared to receive “preferential treatment,” as one reporter put it.

“I’ll let everybody be the judge of that, but it looks like it to me…” Ryan said.

“We have seen nothing but stonewalling and dishonesty from Secretary Clinton on this issue, and that means there are a lot more questions that need to be answered.”

Tags

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed..

 

Main Area Top ↴

Testing Homepage Widget

 

Main Area Middle ↴
Main Area Bottom ↴

Top Stories

See All

Most Popular

Load more

Video

See all Video