GOP lawmakers call for Clinton Foundation special prosecutor

More than 50 House Republicans on Tuesday urged the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether Clinton Foundation donors had unusual access to Hillary Clinton while she served as secretary of State.

Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas), a former United States attorney, spearheaded a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch requesting her department follow up on an Associated Press report that found some of the private interests who secured meetings with Clinton had donated to her family’s foundation.

{mosads}“All of this makes it very unclear where the State Department ended and where the Clinton Foundation began,” the lawmakers wrote.

“The facts as they have been reported surrounding the Clinton Foundation warrant an investigation that is beyond reproach and beyond any appearance of political favoritism. Appointing a special counsel is a necessary step at this juncture.”

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has amped up a call for a special prosecutor in recent days, releasing statements from surrogates like running mate Mike Pence, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Rep. Dan Donovan (R-N.Y.).

Tuesday’s letter, however, was released by Ratcliffe’s congressional office and not the Trump campaign.

In addition to calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the Clinton Foundation, congressional Republicans are using a variety of official tools at their disposal to attack the Democratic presidential nominee ahead of the November elections.

The House Judiciary Committee is expected to hold a hearing when Congress returns from its summer recess next month on allegations that Clinton committed perjury while discussing her private email setup before the House Select Committee on Benghazi last year.

FBI Director James Comey announced in July that the Justice Department would not indict Clinton or her aides for mishandling classified information.

Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, dismissed the idea of a special prosecutor during an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday.

“There’s no evidence at all of any illegality in terms of Clinton Foundation and the secretary of State’s of work,” he said.

“The most that has come to surface is that some of the Clinton Foundation supporters also met with the secretary of State, which you would imagine would be the case. So no, that’s not at all the kind of foundation you would want for the extraordinary step of a special investigator, prosecutor.”

This post has been updated to clarify Ratcliffe’s former role as a U.S. Attorney.