House Leaders Formally Request Clinton Perjury Probe

House Republicans formally asked the Justice Department on July 11 to investigate whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton committed perjury when she testified to Congress about her use of a private email server during her time in office.

Republican Reps. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, who also chairs the oversight panel, and Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, who is head of the Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips to request the probe into Clinton’s testimony, reports Reuters.

“The evidence collected by the FBI during its investigation of Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal email system appears to directly contradict several aspects of her sworn testimony,” the letter reads.

Chaffetz promised several days earlier to send a request of this nature after FBI Director Comey told the Oversight Committee that Clinton’s private server contained several classified emails. She had testified to Congress earlier that “there was nothing marked classified” on any of the emails she sent or received from the unauthorized server.

Comey told the committee he had not been asked to investigate this statement prior to his announcement that the FBI would not recommend that the Justice Department indict Clinton for her handling of classified information in her emails.

“Although there is evidence of potential violations regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case,” Comey said during a news conference.

While Clinton had interacted with classified emails, the FBI director said that there was no evidence that she did so with malicious intent.

“I think it’s possible — possible — that she didn’t understand what a C meant when she saw it in the body of an email like that,” Comey said of Clinton, referring to the government symbol indicating a classified document, reports CNBC.

Chaffetz and Goodlatte remained unconvinced.

“In light of those contradictions, the department should investigate and determine whether to prosecute Secretary Clinton for violating statutes that prohibit perjury and false statements to Congress, or any other relevant statutes,” the two members of Congress wrote in the investigation request, according to Fox News.

Sources: Reuters via CNBC, CNBC, Fox News / Photo credit: Flickr