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Mike Pompeo Demands Top Obama Officials Bar Clinton From Classified Information

Mike Pompeo
Mike Pompeo / AP
July 8, 2016

Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.) demanded Friday that top Obama administration officials bar Hillary Clinton and her former State Department aides from gaining access to classified information for the duration of her presidential campaign.

Pompeo requested in a letter dated Thursday that Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper review Clinton’s access to classified material following FBI Director James Comey’s testimony this week that Clinton and her aides were "extremely careless" in their use of a private email server.

"Despite his decision not to recommend criminal charges in this case, Director Comey’s statement on the FBI’s findings are damning," Pompeo wrote in the letter.

Clinton is set to begin receiving classified briefings after the Democratic National Convention, where she is expected to clinch the party’s formal nomination. Presidential candidates have traditionally received intelligence briefings as the race moves into the general election.

Pompeo said the "only appropriate" response to the FBI’s findings is for Clinton to be barred from the briefings until the completion of a federal review into the issue.

"Secretary Clinton’s complete disregard for the letter and spirit of the law in her handling of classified information is not a political issue," he wrote. "It is a national security issue that puts American interests, and American lives, in danger."

Comey testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Thursday that Clinton’s use of an nonsecure private email server could have compromised classified information by placing it in the hands of adversaries.

While his agency did not recommend criminal charges, Comey said that individuals who engage in similar actions often face security or administrative sanctions.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) formally asked Clapper Thursday to deny classified information to Clinton to keep the nation’s secrets "secure." Ten Republican senators sent a separate letter to Kerry the same day demanding he suspend security clearances for Clinton and her aides.