Republicans from Donald Trump to lawmakers alike have stepped up calls for the resignation of State Department official Patrick Kennedy after docs revealed his repeated attempts to sway the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server, Fox News reported Tuesday.
The documents, released Monday by the FBI, show Undersecretary for Management Kennedy offered a quid pro quo to the FBI: Additional agents overseas in exchange for declassifying an email from Clinton's server marked "secret," Fox reported.
CNN reported interview notes kept by the FBI reveal "Kennedy spent the next 15 minutes debating the classification for the email and attempting to influence the FBI to change its markings."
Trump seized on what he called a "cover up" at a rally in Wisconsin.
"Under-Secretary of State Patrick Kennedy made the request for altering classification as part of a 'quid pro quo,' in other words a deal," Fox News quoted Trump from the event.
"This is felony corruption. Under-Secretary Kennedy needs to resign."
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., released a joint statement calling Kennedy's actions "extremely disturbing" and called for his removal "pending a full investigation."
House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement that "these documents further demonstrate Secretary Clinton's complete disregard for properly handling classified information."
A State Department spokesman told CNN there was "no wrongdoing here."
"Not only is there no proof. It's absolutely not true, a completely false allegation. It just didn't happen that way," John Kirby told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day" on Tuesday.
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