House GOP readies Clinton probes in anticipation of her victory

Jason Chaffetz, the Republican Utah congressman wrapping up his first term atop the powerful House Oversight Committee, unendorsed Donald Trump weeks ago. That freed him up to prepare for something else: spending years, come January, probing the record of a President Hillary Clinton.

'It's a target-rich environment,” Chaffetz said in an interview in Salt Lake City's suburbs. 'Even before we get to Day One, we've got two years worth of material already lined up. She has four years of history at the State Department, and it ain't good.”

If Republicans retain control of the House, something that GOP-friendly maps make possible even in a Trump loss, Clinton would become the first president since George H.W. Bush to immediately face a House Oversight Committee controlled by the opposition party.

Other Republican leaders say they support Chaffetz's efforts, raising the specter of more partisan acrimony between them and the White House for four years.

'The rigorous oversight conducted by House Republicans has already brought to light troubling developments in the Clinton email scandal,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement. 'The speaker supports (Oversight's) investigative efforts following where the evidence leads, especially where it shows the need for changes in the law.”

And the Oversight Committee may not be the only panel ready for partisan battle. While the Select Committee on Benghazi appears to have finished its work, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a committee member who argues Clinton might have perjured herself on the email question, said he wants the committee to continue.

If she wins Nov. 8, Clinton would enter office with low favorable ratings and perhaps only a third of voters considering her honest. As a result, Republicans are not inclined to give her a political honeymoon. To many of them, a Clinton victory would mean Trump threw away an election anyone else could have won.

That analysis stems from the multiple investigations Republicans have led - or asked for - into Clinton's tenure at the State Department.

Clinton has been dogged by investigations into the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, and for the better part of two years into questions about the private email server she used while secretary of state.

'She's not getting a clean slate,” Chaffetz said. 'It's not like the State Department was bending over backwards to help us understand what was going on. We've got document destruction. We've got their own rogue system. We've got classified information out the door. We've got their foundation doing who knows what.”

Several Clinton allies recoiled when asked about GOP plans for 2017. Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said Chaffetz threatened to 'ignore the public's clear desire for the two parties to work together.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., ranking member of the Oversight Committee and the Select Committee on Benghazi, said new Clinton investigations based on scandals vetted since 2013 would be a waste.

'Republicans are pretending like they haven't been investigating Secretary Clinton for years ever since she announced that she was running for president, including everything from Benghazi to emails to the Clinton Foundation,” he said in a statement. 'It's no exaggeration to say that on the first day Secretary Clinton walks into the White House, Republicans will have already investigated her more than any other president in history.”