Paul Ryan Hits FBI Over Hillary Clinton's Email Investigation Report, Calls it a 'Political Move'

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin denounced the FBI on Tuesday, saying officials are acting like "political operators" by releasing a report critical of Hillary Clinton on the Friday of Labor Day weekend when Americans would be traveling or otherwise enjoying the holiday weekend.

"It’s like the most buried time you could put out stories," Ryan said in an interview with WRJN, a Wisconsin radio station. "I'm surprised. I mean, I can’t believe they would do what is such a patently political move. It makes them look like political operators versus law enforcement officers."

He added: "The fact that they chose the Friday before Labor Day to put all this out there mystifies me as to why they thought that was a smart thing to do."

On Friday, the FBI released a 58-page report related to its investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server that raises questions about how she handled classified information. The report included notes from the investigation, as well as a summary of its three-hour interview with the Democratic presidential nominee at FBI headquarters.

Citing "real trust issues" and "real creditability issues," Ryan said Clinton is "the last person I want to see become president."

Ryan pointed to the discrepancies between what Clinton said and what the report revealed.

"What she said she did with respect to her emails, her devices and all the rest versus now the facts as we know them as released in the Friday data dump," he added.

Ryan's interview echoed a statement he released on Friday expressing his anger with the FBI.

"These documents demonstrate Hillary Clinton's reckless and downright dangerous handling of classified information during her tenure as secretary of state," said Ryan. "They also cast further doubt on the Justice Department's decision to avoid prosecuting what is a clear violation of the law. This is exactly why I have called for her to be denied access to classified information."

In July, Ryan attempted to block Clinton from receiving classified intelligence briefings for the remainder of the election season.

"There is no legal requirement for you to provide Secretary Clinton with classified information," Ryan wrote, "and it would send the wrong signal to all those charged with safeguarding our nation's secrets if you choose to provide her access to this information despite the FBI's findings."

However, Ryan's request was quickly denied by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

In a letter to Ryan, Clapper wrote that he did "not intend to withhold briefings from any officially nominated, eligible candidate."

"Nominees for president and vice president receive these briefings by virtue of their status as candidates, and do not require separate security clearances before the briefings," Clapper wrote to Ryan. "Briefings for the candidates will be provided on an even-handed non-partisan basis."

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