Darell Issa is apparently still a little salty over being pushed out of his chairmanship over the House Oversight Committee in favor of a young and ambitious congressman. Hours after his replacement, Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz, announced an unprecedented hearing into the FBI's recommendation not to pursue criminal charges against Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server as secretary of state, calling Director James Comey to Capitol Hill to testify this week, Issa attempted to one-up his replacement.
Calling previous Republican-led government shutdowns over things like Obamacare “small points compared to the actual balance of our republic,” the California Republican who once vowed never to vote for a government shutdown, called for one over the FBI's email investigation.
"I received and accepted their unanimous recommendation that the thorough, year-long investigation be closed and that no charges be brought against any individuals within the scope of the investigation,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement after meeting with FBI Director James Comey Wednesday.
"The administration is covering its own backend," Issa alleged on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily Wednesday. "That is the crisis we face."
"We are in a crisis because Hillary Clinton, if the voters do not stop her, will be the next President of the United States," Issa, who has claimed that "there is more than enough for an indictment,” said.
"She will, in fact, on day one say, 'Pardon me,' and she’ll mean it. She’ll have pardoned herself," he quipped.
Issa then called on Breitbart listeners to demand a government shutdown over the FBI's failure to recommend criminal charges against Clinton.
"We cannot simply wait for a president that is willing to voluntarily sign away some of his or her own power," Issa insisted.“We should be willing to shut down the government if the president won’t limit his power.”
"Are you willing to shutdown all business of the people for this?" Issa challenged the House GOP leadership:
Issa's statement comes as a dozen protesters held a sit-in at his office Tuesday night to demand that he support tougher gun restrictions before the House Wednesday.
And Issa's idea comes on the heels of House Speaker Paul Ryan's suggestion that Clinton be stripped of her access to classified government information.
"Comey said short of prosecution some kind of administration action should occur bringing consequences. I think the DNI, the director of national intelligence, should block her access to classified information given how recklessly she handled this during the presidential campaign," Ryan told Fox News' Megyn Kelly.
"She becomes president that's one thing. But I don't think she should get classified information and I think the DNI should block it given how recklessly she handled this."
Republicans have also called on the FBI to release its evidence against Clinton.
[H/T: ThinkProgress]
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