WASHINGTON — California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein disputed a former intelligence inspector general’s claims that she pushed to marginalize him when he investigated the use of email by Hillary Clinton.
“I have no idea what he’s talking about,” Feinstein told The Daily Caller.
Obama-appointed inspector general Charles McCullough III told Fox News he faced intense backlash from Clinton allies during the inquiry into the former secretary of state’s email server.
“There was personal blowback. Personal blowback to me, to my family, to my office,” McCullough said who noted that the Clinton campaign wanted him fired if Clinton became president.
McCullough told Daily Caller cofounder Tucker Carlson Monday that “all of a sudden I became a shill of the right” when he reported his concerns about classified information within Clinton’s email to then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
“And I was told by members of Congress, ‘Be careful. You’re losing your credibility. You need to be careful. There are people out to get you.'”
In March 2016, seven senior Democratic members, including Feinstein, sent a letter to McCullough and his State Department counterpart, criticizing his impartiality of the email investigation.
“I think there was certainly a coordinated strategy,” McCullough said.
McCullough told Fox News he faced Feinstein’s office only six weeks prior the election, as he was under pressure to respond to the letter Feinstein had co-signed.
“I thought that any response to that letter would just hyper-politicize the situation,” McCullough said. “I recall even offering to resign, to the staff director. I said, ‘Tell [Feinstein] I’ll resign tonight. I’d be happy to go. I’m not going to respond to that letter. It’s just that simple.”
Feinstein, however, told TheDC she does not remember co-signing such a letter or if she requested he resign from his position.