Top Dems blast call for special counsel on Clinton emails

The top Democrats on the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees are railing against a Republican’s call for the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

In separate statements on Wednesday, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said that the proposal from No. 2 Senate Republican John Cornyn (Texas) would be a politically motivated waste of taxpayer dollars.

{mosads}“The State Department — in coordination with the intelligence community — is already reviewing Secretary Clinton’s emails for public release,” Feinstein said in her statement.

“Instead of wasting more taxpayer dollars, the process in place to review and release Secretary Clinton’s emails, which she has welcomed, should be allowed to continue,” she added. “Calls for a special counsel are purely political and completely unnecessary.”

Leahy, meanwhile pointed out that the department has yet to indicate whether it launched a criminal investigation, even though the FBI has taken control of her server.

“I do not question the integrity or ability of Attorney General [Loretta] Lynch or FBI Director [James] Comey — and certainly do not see any conflict or extraordinary circumstances that would warrant a special counsel,” he said in a statement shared with The Hill. “Such a suggestion is nothing more than yet another political ploy that would compound the growing pile of taxpayer dollars that already has been wasted on this politically motivated quest.”

Feinstein is the vice chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee, and Leahy is the ranking member of the Judiciary panel.

The statements follow Cornyn’s request Tuesday that Lynch appoint a special counsel for Clinton’s emails, given the “extraordinary circumstances” surrounding her use of a personal email address and private server while serving as secretary of State.

“Americans deserve the assurance that justice — and justice alone — is being pursued,” Cornyn wrote in his letter.

An aide to Cornyn suggested that Leahy and Feinstein were being hypocritical, since they have previously called for special counsels to be brought in on previous cases.

“Despite both senators seeking the appointment of a special counsel on multiple occasions in the past, when it comes to Secretary Clinton purposely hiding information from the American people only then is it a waste of taxpayer dollars,” the aide said.

GOP members of the House Committee investigating the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, had previously been the Capitol’s main attack dogs on Clinton, but Senate Republicans have started to elbow their way into the debate. In addition to Cornyn, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Homeland Security Committee chief Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) have also waded into the firestorm over Clinton’s emails.

The jostling is only likely to intensify in coming weeks and months as the race for the White House enters a higher gear. 

This story was updated at 8:08 p.m.