Why the FBI should investigate Hillary Clinton over email scandal
The FBI should not investigate Hillary Rodham Clinton over her email scandal, former acting Attorney General Sally Yates said Tuesday.
In an interview with MSNBC, Yates, a former acting attorney general under President George W. Bush, said she was surprised by how little attention the matter has received since her confirmation in January.
Yates, a Trump supporter, also said the FBI’s decision to not pursue charges against Clinton “is a big deal.”
“The public has a right to know, the FBI, as a bureau, has an obligation to protect and defend the integrity of the investigation,” she said.
“It’s not a question of whether they should prosecute or not prosecute.”
Yates said the bureau is not in a position to say that Clinton’s conduct is worse than that of former President Donald Trump, who was elected president in November.
Trump has said she should be prosecuted for mishandling classified information.
“I don’t know if you have the capacity to indict a president for that,” she told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell.
“But if you’re going to prosecute a president, and it’s an administration decision, you better be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the president committed a crime.”
Yatsys remarks were the first by a senior federal law enforcement official to acknowledge the FBI had not opened a criminal investigation into Clinton.
Yate said she believes that the decision by the bureau to not file charges against her could have been made “in a different way” if she had been the subject of a criminal inquiry.
“It would have been my choice to say I’m going to cooperate and get to the bottom of this,” Yates said.
