Feinstein: Trump’s calls to investigate Clinton ‘deeply disturbing’

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Friday said that President Trump’s calls for the Justice Department to investigate Hillary Clinton are “deeply disturbing” and warned Americans not to “become numb” to attempts to politicize law enforcement.

“The president’s repeated calls for the Justice Department and FBI to investigate Hillary Clinton are deeply disturbing. They show his contempt for the rule of law and undermine faith in our justice system,” said Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Justice Department.

“We can’t allow ourselves to become numb to the president of the United States calling on independent law enforcement organizations to investigate his political opponents,” she added. “That’s characteristic of authoritarian regimes, not democracies, and it needs to stop.”

{mosads}

In a series of tweets on Friday morning, Trump accused Clinton of stealing the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and demanded that the FBI and the Justice Department investigate allegations of corrupt dealings and misbehavior.

Among the allegations that Trump said warranted investigation were Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of State and the Obama-era sale of a mining company that supplied the U.S. with uranium to a Russian state-owned energy company.

That deal was approved by the State Department under Clinton’s stewardship, but the former top diplomat has said she was not involved in the decision.

A previous FBI probe into Clinton’s use of a private email server ended last year. Then-FBI Director James Comey did not recommend charges in the case, though Trump and his allies have raised concerns about the investigation.

Trump has appeared to step up his calls to investigate Clinton in recent days, particularly after his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was indicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

The charges against Manafort are not related to activities undertaken while he worked for Trump’s campaign, but instead stem from work he did with a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine. 

Another former Trump campaign aide, George Papadopoulos, has pleaded guilty to lying to FBI investigators about his contacts with a professor with ties to the Russian government.

The White House has sought in recent days to distance itself from Manafort and Papadopoulos.