Clinton files release stirs senator’s ire

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee asked the FBI on Wednesday to correct what he called its “mistake” of restricting access to unclassified files from its closed investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, urged FBI Director James Comey to send his committee unclassified records on the investigation into the Democratic presidential nominee by Friday.

Responding to requests from GOP House members, the FBI on Aug. 16 delivered two large binders containing both classified and unclassified documents to a secure room on Capitol Hill typically reserved for the nation’s most closely guarded secrets. Documents containing classified information are included with those marked as “Unclassified/For Official Use.”

Grassley said that by comingling the documents and locking them away the FBI violated an executive order dictating the handling classified materials.

“The FBI is not following its legal responsibility and is impeding the ability of Judiciary Committee members and staff to work with the unclassified documents,” Grassley wrote.

The FBI did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment.

The FBI in July closed the agency’s yearlong investigation into whether Clinton and her top aides mishandled classified information through a private email server in the basement of her New York home. Though he described Clinton’s actions as “extremely careless,” Comey said his agents found no evidence to support criminal charges.

Republicans said Clinton lied to Congress about her handling of emails when she testified in October before a House panel investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. The GOP is pressing the Justice Department to open a new investigation into whether Clinton committed perjury.

The FBI sent written warnings with the Clinton documents sent to Congress not to leak the information.