Jason Chaffetz: No Reason Comey Can't Provide Info Behind Clinton Decision

Now that the Department of Justice has determined Hillary Clinton won't be prosecuted on charges stemming from her use of a private email server, there is no reason FBI Director James Comey can't provide the information behind the decision, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz said Thursday.

"I worry there are two standards," the Utah Republican, who heads the committee that will grill Comey on Capitol Hill Thursday morning, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.

"If your name is Clinton or you're part of the rich and powerful, you live under a different set of rules than everybody else. It does appear based on the fact pattern laid out you'd probably be in handcuffs and going to jail and probably should based on the statute."

Chaffetz said he does believe there are precedents that could have led to charges against Clinton, including the case of former CIA Director John Deutch, "who plugged his laptop essentially into the Internet. He was going to be prosecuted and then President [Bill] Clinton pardoned him. There are other cases as well."

And with Hillary Clinton, "we're talking about classified information," said Chaffetz. "It wasn't one innocent mistake. This was something that went on for years. It put people's lives in jeopardy.We don't know definitively whether it was hacked."

Comey's statement that showed a conclusion, but didn't recommend any consequences "just doesn't make sense," Chaffetz said. "If you were just the average American, the person who's going back and forth working for the government, would you be held accountable in some way, shape or form? "

Meanwhile, Chaffetz said he does not think it is a bad precedent for his committee to call Comey in to answer for not recommending charges against Clinton.

"We have people who have classified information," he said. "I do think it is appropriate now that the case is closed to have the FBI director come and explain and show us what he saw. "

Chaffetz said he does believe Comey to be a man of "great integrity," and that's why it's "mystifying" that he would not recommend charges, given the way he laid out the case and showed "all the times Mrs. Clinton provided false information not only in public, but also under oath."

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