Special to WorldTribune.com

By Christopher Sparks, July 31, 2017

The House Judiciary Committee is calling on the Justice Department to appoint a second special counsel to restore “public confidence in our nation’s justice system and its investigators, specifically the Department of Justice and FBI.”

A second counsel is necessary to investigate a “plethora of matters” related to the 2016 election, including “actions taken” by Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former FBI Director James Comey, the committee said in a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein..

“We need to enable these agencies to perform their necessary and important law enforcement and intelligence functions fully unhindered by politics,” the letter, dated July 27, said.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election and connections to the Trump campaign have “focused on allegations that have heretofore produced no evidence of criminality, despite the fact that over a year has passed since the opening of the original FBI investigation,” the letter said.

Noting that testimony by Comey “has provided new evidence” that Lynch “may have used her position of authority to undermine the Clinton investigation,” the Judiciary Committee said a second counsel is needed to investigate the following “unanswered” questions:

• Lynch directing Comey to mislead the American people on the Clinton investigation.
• The shadow cast over our system of justice concerning Secretary Clinton and her involvement in mishandling classified information.
• FBI and DOJ’s investigative decisions related to Clinton’s email investigation, including the propriety of consequence from immunity deals given to potential Clinton co-conspirators Cheryl Mills, Heather Samuelson, John Bentel and possibly others.
• The apparent failure of DOJ to empanel a grand jury to investigate allegations of mishandling of classified information by Hillary Clinton and her associates.
• The Department of State and its employees’ involvement in determining which communications of Secretary Clinton’s and her associates to turn over for public scrutiny.
• WikiLeaks disclosures concerning the Clinton Foundation and its potentially unlawful international dealings.
• Connections between the Clinton campaign, or the Clinton Foundation, and foreign entities, including those from Russia and Ukraine.
• Comey’s knowledge of the purchase of Uranium One by the company Rosatom, whether the approval of the sale was connected to any donations made to the Clinton Foundation, and what role Secretary Clinton played in the approval of that sale that had national security ramifications.
• Disclosures arising from unlawful access to the Democratic National Committee’s computer systems, including inappropriate collusion between the DNC and the Clinton campaign to undermine Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.
• Post-election accusations by President Donald Trump that he was wiretapped by the previous administration, and whether Comey and Lynch had any knowledge of efforts made by any federal agency to unlawfully monitor communications of then-candidate Trump or his associates.
• Selected leaks of classified information related to the unmasking of U.S. person identities incidentally collected upon by the intelligence community, including an assessment of whether anyone in the Obama administration, including Comey, Lynch, Susan Rice, Samantha Power, or others, had any knowledge about the “unmasking” of individuals on Trump’s campaign team, transition team, or both.
• Admitted leaks by Comey to Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman regarding conversations between Comey and President Trump, how the leaked information was purposefully released to lead to the appointment of a special counsel, and whether any classified information was included in the now infamous “Comey memos.”
• Comey’s and the FBI’s apparent reliance on “Fusion GPS” in its investigation of the Trump campaign, including the company’s creation of a “dossier” of information about Trump, that dossier’s commission and dissemination in the months before and after the 2016 election, whether the FBI paid anyone connected to the dossier, and the intelligence sources of Fusion GPS or any person or company working for Fusion GPS and its affiliates.
• Any and all potential leaks originated by Comey and provided to author Michael Schmidt dating back to 1993.

Christopher Sparks is a veteran journalist who has worked for metropolitan and community newspapers in New York City, Washington, D.C., upstate New York and Florida.

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