WASHINGTON — House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday vigorously defended Hillary Clinton from a stinging FBI report on her handling of classified information while secretary of State, mocking Republicans for promising another "investigation of an investigation of an investigation" into the agency's recommendation not to pursue criminal charges.
"What I heard" from FBI Director James Comey "was that there was nothing prosecutable in what they reviewed," Pelosi told Capital Download in her first public remarks on the subject. "Yes, it could have been better. Out of 30,000 emails, 110 or something were in question. That's too many. You don't want any — but at 30,000, a small number. And the secretary said she made a mistake, she wouldn't do it again. He said there's not enough here to prosecute anything. I think that's that."
Pelosi dismissed House Speaker Paul Ryan's suggestion at a news conference Wednesday that the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, deny Clinton access to the national security briefings customarily given to major-party presidential nominees "given how she's so recklessly handled classified information."
"I think that is an irresponsible statement on the part of the Speaker, whom I do respect," Pelosi said, calling the suggestion "strange." She said both Clinton and Donald Trump, once he is the Republican nominee, should have access to the briefings.
She also derided the Republican leader's decision to approve a request by the House's top watchdog panel for Comey to testify, calling it a "subterfuge" and "a waste of the taxpayers' dollars." Comey has agreed to appear Thursday before the Oversight Committee.
"People can nip at her heels all they want," Pelosi said of Clinton. "She's going to be president of the United States and she's going to be a great president of the United States and that's why they can never take 'no' for an answer. The FBI director said 'no.'"
Pelosi, first elected to the House three decades ago, was combative and confident in an interview in her Capitol Hill office with USA TODAY's weekly newsmaker series. She predicted Democrats would be united at their national convention in three weeks and that Clinton would win in November, describing Trump as "the gift that keeps on giving." Asked whether it was possible the billionaire businessman would prevail, she replied: "I don't underestimate any opponent, but I don't overestimate them, either."
She disputed reports that at a closed meeting Wednesday House Democrats had booed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who hasn't yet endorsed Clinton. While there may have been scattered boos in the back of the room, she expressed no concern that Democrats would be divided for the fall campaign. "What's important is not when Bernie Sanders endorses Hillary Clinton," she said. "It is that Bernie Sanders brings his people along, and that's a path that he is on."
On another topic, Pelosi warned House Republican leaders not to follow through on suggestions that they might punish Democrats who participated in a sit-in on the House floor last month to push for a vote on gun laws. "That would be such a serious mistake on their part," she said. "They are going to say that we can't express ourselves on the floor of the House, except for some rules that they made up?"
She said Democrats "are not going to go away" until the votes are held, adding, "Stay tuned."
