Republicans Call on FBI to Investigate Hillary’s Perjury

During FBI Director James Comey’s appearance before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday, Rep. Jason Chaffetz asked him if Hillary Clinton had lied to investigators regarding her use of a private email server.

“We have no basis to conclude that she lied to the FBI,” Comey said.

Chaffetz then asked if Clinton had lied to the American people, a question Comey chose not to answer. Chaffetz asked Comey if Clinton had lied when testifying before Congress.

“Not to my knowledge,” said Comey. “I don’t think there’s been a referral from Congress.”

“You’ll have one,” Chaffetz promised. “You’ll have one in the next few hours.”

A perjury charge would open Clinton up to prosecution once again.

Republicans will likely make good on their promise to have her investigated for perjury. They’ll also make sure every House committee gets a chance to rake Comey and Clinton and Loretta Lynch over the coals. They’ll call on the Director of National Intelligence to revoke Clinton’s security clearance. They’ll make some terrific advertisements skewering her in the fall.

But we’ve seen this show before, haven’t we? Fierce rhetoric, television-ready hearings, followed by…a whole lot of nothing. Republicans are really good at getting the ball rolling, but they are just terrible when it comes to bringing it home.

Hey, maybe that won’t be the case this time. Maybe they’ll stick with it. Maybe they’ll keep reminding themselves that their ineffectiveness (or betrayal, if you aren’t so charitable) is exactly why Donald Trump is the Republican nominee. Jesus, they do realize that, right?

Unfortunately, that is probably not going to happen. Hillary didn’t just get off because she’s a Democrat and Obama’s a Democrat; she got off because the Establishment made it so. They know they have a wolf growling at the doorstep, and they aren’t about to do anything so foolish as to invite him in.

By casting the law aside so inartfully, they risk a huge backlash from the American public. For that reason, as much as anything else, we’ll see all of the Republican fireworks we can stand. Perjury charge? Seriously? This woman handled classified information with as much care as a forwarded joke, and we’re picking around for a perjury charge? It’s offensive.

If there are serious sanctions brought against Hillary Clinton, they won’t appear until after Inauguration Day. They won’t appear until that wolf outside has gone away.