Although the Justice Department has cleared presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton of criminal culpability in her use of a private email server while Secretary of the State, House Speaker Paul Ryan (D-Wis.) asked Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to “refrain from providing any classified information” to the former First Lady during the remainder of her presidential campaign.
“As a former vice presidential nominee I'm keenly aware that Secretary Clinton is set to begin receiving classified information after the Democratic National Convention,” Ryan wrote in a letter to Clapper, noting that FBI Director James Comey had said that administrative or security sanctions might have been levied on those in similar circumstances. “Given the FBI's findings denying Secretary Clinton access to classified information certainly constitutes appropriate sanctions.”
While Comey Tuesday essentially removed the specter of criminal prosecution from the hotly debated issue, he did rebuke her for being “extremely careless” in the “handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”
Providing Clinton with classified information after she secures the nomination at the DNC convention "would send the wrong signal to all those charged with safeguarding our nation's secrets," Ryan said.
The House speaker urged Clapper "to reassure the public" by denying Clinton access but asked the national intelligence chief to provide his rationale if he chose to reject Ryan's request.
