Erin Kelly

USAToday

WASHINGTON — A House panel will probe FBI officials next month over whether Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton perjured herself in testimony to Congress last year about her use of private email servers while she was secretary of state.

Republican committee members plan to bring up the perjury issue at a House Judiciary Committee hearing in September that will focus on oversight of the FBI, according to a Republican committee aide who was not authorized to speak on the record. The exact date and witness list for the hearing have not been set, but FBI Director James Comey will likely testify, the aide said.

On Monday, Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and House oversight committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips detailing several examples that they allege show where Clinton's sworn testimony before Congress contradicts evidence collected during the FBI's investigation of Clinton's private email server.

"During a House Select Committee on Benghazi hearing on October 22, 2015, Secretary Clinton testified with respect to whether she sent or received emails that were marked classified at the time; whether her attorneys reviewed each of the emails on her personal email system; whether there was one or more servers that stored work-related emails during her time as secretary of state; and whether she provided all her work-related emails to the Department of State," the two chairmen wrote.

Clinton's statements in those four areas contradict evidence that Comey described in his public statement on July 5 and in testimony before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee on on July 7, the chairmen wrote.

"Although there may be other aspects of Secretary Clinton’s sworn testimony that are at odds with the FBI’s findings, her testimony in those four areas bears specific scrutiny in light of the facts and evidence," they wrote.

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the senior Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called the perjury referral against Clinton by GOP House members "frivolous."

"We received a letter from the FBI confirming that not one of the emails Secretary Clinton received was properly marked classified," Cummings said. "All Republicans have to do is read the FBI’s letter to understand this, but they want a ‘do-over’ because they do not like the FBI’s answer. It is clear that Secretary Clinton was telling the truth based on the facts she had at the time, and this Republican perjury referral is making a mockery out of congressional authority and trivializing our procedures for political purposes."

In a televised press conference on July 5, Comey criticized Clinton for "extreme carelessness" in her handling of classified information but said Clinton would not be prosecuted because there was no evidence that she intended to violate any laws.

Clinton has repeatedly said that the answers she gave to the FBI's questions about her email were truthful and that those answers were consistent with what she has said publicly about the matter.

The FBI, citing a desire for transparency, on Tuesday gave Republican congressional leaders a package of documents summarizing its investigation of Clinton’s use of private email servers. The release of information by the FBI related to a closed investigation is highly unusual.

FBI turns over summary of Clinton probe to Congress