House Speaker Paul Ryan tells reporters it looks like Hillary Clinton got preferential treatment from the FBI in its investigation. | AP Photo Ryan to feds: Clinton shouldn't get classified briefings as nominee

House Speaker Paul Ryan says Hillary Clinton can't be trusted with classified information and is formally asking federal intelligence officials to deny the former secretary of State briefings during the fall campaign, a typical practice for both party's nominees.

In a letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper dated Wednesday and released on Thursday, Ryan wrote that the FBI's admonishment of Clinton this week over her lax email practices as secretary of state needs to carry repercussions. The letter came hours before FBI Director James Comey is set to testify before the House Oversight Committee on his findings in the Clinton email investigation and decision not to recommend charges against her.


"As you know, the FBI's investigation of Secretary Clinton's unauthorized personal e-mail found substantial evidence that Secretary Clinton and her staff were 'extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, classified information,'" Ryan (R-Wis.) wrote. He went on to note that Comey said that officials who acted similarly to Clinton would face administrative or security sanctions.

"Given the FBI's findings, denying Clinton access to classified information certainly constitutes appropriate sanctions," Ryan wrote. "There is no legal requirement for you to provide Secretary Clinton with classified information, and it would send the wrong signal to all those charged with safeguarding our nation's secrets if you choose to provide her access to this information despite the FBI's findings."

Ryan joined several other Republicans who've argued this week that Clinton shouldn't have access to sensitive intelligence information after her email transgressions. And Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas introduced a bill Thursday that would revoke the security clearance of Clinton and her aides at State who sent classified information through her personal servers.

"We're saying she should not have classified clearance. It should be revoked and those around her, (those) she was e-mailing with, the people who received the classified information ought to have their security clearance revoked as well," Gardner said on Fox News. The ban, he added, should last "until she has a legal right to that clearance by becoming the president-elect."

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, responded in a statement that the GOP demand "is as predictable as it is absurd. These briefings are given because it serves the national interest to do so, and because one of the candidates will be the next President of the United States."

