Confer with Comey...

Senior lawmakers confer with Comey about email review

By Colin Wilhelm

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said on Sunday that he and the committee's top Democrat, Michigan Rep. John Conyers, had conferred over the weekend with FBI Director James Comey about the new review of emails that might involve Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state.

“We both encouraged him to make sure that the American people have as much information as possible before they have to make a decision on Nov. 8, based upon this stunning new development, that the bureau is examining new evidence in this case, that they said they had completed several months ago,” Goodlatte said, explaining the conversation Saturday with Comey.

The Virginia Republican appeared on ABC's "This Week" with Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who said that if Comey found no new evidence of wrongdoing he would need to "acknowledge he's made a serious mistake.”

Schiff added that Comey’s letter disclosing the review to congressional leaders on Friday constituted an “ambiguity bomb” that “clearly wasn't in the public interest.”

Goodlatte pushed back.

“I think the director is very conscious of this and he feels, I think, in a very difficult situation, but one which he thinks that given the fact that Mrs. Clinton has been traveling around the country for 3 ½ months saying that the FBI has cleared her of wrongdoing, that when there is new, and I believe, substantial information available why wouldn't he tell the American people that this is still under investigation?”

Goodlatte added that he questioned Comey about a potential perjury referral he and House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) might make regarding Clinton’s earlier testimony to Congress, accidentally calling it an “impeachment” referral before correcting himself. And Comey directed the congressmen to the Justice Department, Goodlatte said.