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Grassley: Clinton Investigation Files Improperly Restricted by FBI

August 18, 2016

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) said in a letter Wednesday to the Senate’s security director that the FBI was improperly limiting congressional access to the files from the bureau’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, Fox News reported Thursday.

Grassley and other Republicans are upset because the FBI has mixed in classified information with the rest of the files, leaving only certain lawmakers able to view all of the material.

Grassley expressed his frustration in the letter he sent Wednesday, according to Fox News.

In a letter Wednesday to the Senate's security director, the top-ranking senator has asked that unclassified portions be provided to his staff–and chided the FBI for providing the files in this way.

"As I have expressed to the FBI in the past, it is inappropriate to unnecessarily mingle classified and unclassified information," Grassley wrote.

Surrounding this issue are concerns that senators or their staff might leak information from the files that would damage Clinton. The FBI has warned senators to not release any information from the files. Some Democrats have said that they believe Republicans will do so, although there has been no evidence for this.

Fox News also said that some serious security measures are being taken surrounding the Clinton material on Capitol Hill.

Congressional aides told The Associated Press that the investigative materials demanded by House Republicans are being kept in a secure room on Capitol Hill typically reserved for the nation’s most closely guarded secrets.

Access to the guarded room is restricted to members of the oversight, judiciary and intelligence committees and their staffs. Those without sufficient security clearances can read only redacted versions of the files and are forbidden from making copies or taking notes.