WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — FBI Director James Comey recommended that the Department of Justice not pursue criminal charges against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, despite her gross mishandling of classified information on private servers.
"While I have tremendous respect for the dedicated men and women of the FBI, I have serious concerns about the integrity of Director Comey’s decision, and how it threatens the rule of law," Cruz stated on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Comey announced he will recommend that the Justice Department does not charge Clinton in the criminal investigation over her use of a private server and email account, which she did contrary to established rules and procedures.
However, Comey also said that Clinton and her aides were extremely careless in handling sensitive US government information. Hundred-and-ten out of 33,000 Clinton emails contained classified US government information,
Cruz noted in the statement that in proposing his recommendation, Comey has in effect rewritten a clearly worded US federal criminal statute.
"In so doing, he [Comey] has come dangerously close to saying that grossly negligent handling of classified information should not result in serious consequences for high-level officials. In a nation where the rule of law is supposed to matter, this is troubling."
As Americans celebrated the birth of their nation on July 4th, Cruz added, it is incumbent upon the authorities to ensure that the United States remains a nation of laws, and that laws apply equally and fairly to all people.
"Under President Obama, we have seen the most politicized Department of Justice in history; I very much hope that politicization has not similarly corrupted the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
Cruz said he joined his colleagues on the US Senate Judiciary Committee in calling for public transparency of, and full access to, all the information that the FBI gathered and used to reach, as the senator called it — the dubious decision.
