NY-22 Minute: Tenney Joins 10 Republicans Calling for Investigation of Comey, Clinton, & More By Luke Perry
Claudia Tenney is one of eleven Republicans who today requested federal investigations of James Comey, Hillary Clinton, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
A joint letter was sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, FBI Director Christopher Wray and U.S. Attorney John Huber, requesting they investigate “potential violation(s) of federal statutes.” (full letter here)
The letter discusses behaviors of each individual and references related federal laws. For instance, the group wants Mr. Comey investigated for perjury (18 USC 1621) and falsehoods (18 USC 1001).
Comey’s recent book, A Higher Loyalty, became a bestseller prior to release, and includes several criticisms of President Trump. The former FBI Director has done recent media appearances, including ABC, USA Today, and NPR, to name a few.
Photo by Andrew Harrer/Getty Images
In response, President Trump Tweeted often about Mr. Comey, calling him names, such as “slime ball.” The Republican National Committee (RNC) developed a new website titled “Lyin Comey” prior to the book’s release.
A majority of Republicans now believe the FBI is biased against the Trump administration. Republicans paid over $5 million of Trump’s legal bills in 2017 through the RNC and Trump campaign.
Recently on Talk of the Town (WUTQ in Utica) Representative Tenney stated that firing Robert Mueller would “not be a great move” politically, even though he is “very partisan.” (16:15 mark) Tenney then asked: “Why isn’t he investigating, you know, blatant federal violations of law under Hillary Clinton?”
Mueller is a registered Republican, who has been supported by Speaker Ryan and Leader McConnell.
Tenney has called for a second special prosecutor to “look into actual, obvious violations of federal law that were done by the prior administration.” The absence of one was described as a “double standard.”
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
“We’re wasting all kinds of money on this Russian collusion,” Tenney said, “and we’ve yet to come up with anything.”
Mueller reported $3.2 million in expenditures between his appointment in May of 2017 and the end of fiscal year 2017.
20 people have been indicted and over 100 federal charges have been filed during the investigation. Five people have plead guilty.
Representative Tenney believes “extreme measures” were used to subpoena the private attorney of the president, Michael Cohen, when we “don’t know if anything is there yet.”
“We know Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration violated laws,” Tenney concluded. “We know that. They’re obvious.”
The Congresswoman cited her credentials as an attorney in discussing the matter on Fox Business Wednesday evening.
Luke Perry (@PolSciLukePerry) is Chair and Professor of Government at Utica College.
Read the NY-22 Minute for timely and comprehensive analysis of the campaign.
