Grassley wants more context for FBI decision on Clinton emails

CEDAR RAPIDS - Sen. Chuck Grassley has no doubt the FBI's announcement Friday that they agency is revisiting its investigation of Hillary Clinton's State Department email could impact the presidential election.

'One way or another,” Grassley said referring to polls showing the announcement could sway one-third of voters, 'but they don't say which way.”

Grassley, who as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is one of those members of Congress the FBI notified Friday that the investigation is being renewed, believes it was appropriate for FBI Director James Comey to inform them.

'I think he felt compelled when he found there possibly - and I put quotes around possibly - was new information that he needed to inform Congress,” Grassley said Monday after speaking to the Cedar Rapids Downtown Rotary. If Comey didn't 'he would be chastised by the Congress.”

However, Grassley said he and his colleagues, as well as the American public, need more information about why Comey revisited his decision to close the investigation of Clinton's emails and use of a private server.

In a letter to Comey Monday, Grassley told the director that without more context, 'your disclosure is not fair to Congress, the American people or Secretary Clinton.

'In the absence of additional, authoritative information from the FBI in the wake of your vague disclosure, Congress and the American people are left to sift through anonymous leaks from Justice Department officials to the press of varying levels of detail, reliability and consistency,” Grassley wrote. 'The American people deserve better than that.”

Grassley also speculates Comey believed he had to inform Congress because he was testifying under oath to a House committee when he indicated the investigation was complete.

He doesn't believe Comey had any political intent in sending the letter to congressional leaders.

'He's not that type of guy,” Grassley said, referring to Comey, then acting attorney general, refusal to sign an extension of President George W. Bush's warrantless domestic spying program because of concerns about its legality and oversight. Comey also reported that he believed White House officials attempted to force Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was hospitalized with pancreatitis, to sign the extension.

A Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 33 percent of voters said the FBI revisiting the investigation into Clinton's emails makes it less likely they'll vote for her. However, most of those already were inclined to vote against her. Analysts also say early voting may mitigate any fallout from the FBI announcement.