Hillary Clinton email server investigation leads to oversight subpoena of FBI

House GOP investigators probing Hillary Clinton’s use of private email at the State Department accused the Obama administration Monday of operating like a “banana republic” by withholding or blacking out documents tied to the FBI’s decision not to prosecute the Democratic presidential nominee.

Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz served an FBI official a subpoena from the dais, saying he wants to see every piece of the bureau’s investigative file rather than cherry-picked pages.

The Utah Republican said it is embarrassing that only members of certain House committees can view sensitive material from the investigative file, and that he doesn’t understand why personal information had been redacted from the packet turned over to lawmakers last month.

“Where in the Constitution does it say that I can’t see that?” Mr. Chaffetz said.

Mrs. Clinton kept a server at her home in New York for all of her State Department email business, including handling classified messages, and she did not turn over the documents when she left the department in early 2013, as required by law.

FBI Director James B. Comey declined to recommend charges against Mrs. Clinton for mishandling classified information, though he did say that Mrs. Clinton and her aides were extremely careless with the setup.

Republican investigators panned his decision and are holding a series of hearings on Mrs. Clinton’s decisions and the related probe.

On Monday Mr. Chaffetz said the FBI should immediately turn over all of its summary reports from the investigation, known as “302s.”

Jason Herring, acting FBI assistant congressional affairs director, said the bureau made “principled” decisions in figuring out how it released information related to an unusual and closely watched probe.

“You don’t get to decide what we think is relevant,” Rep. Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Republican, said.

In a dramatic gesture from the dais, Mr. Chaffetz signed a subpoena and told Mr. Herring that he should consider himself served.

The chairman also told the FBI to disclose unclassified portions of the investigative file to the public, though he commended the FBI for already releasing its investigative summary report and Mrs. Clinton’s 302 interview summary.

Ranking member Elijah E. Cummings, Maryland Democrat, said the committee should have kept Monday’s discussion behind closed doors to avoid the accidental disclosure of classified information.

The panel decided to hold part of its hearing in private late Monday — witnesses from the FBI and CIA declined to answer certain questions in public — though Mr. Cummings said Republicans first wanted to make a show of the proceedings for political gain.

“As far as I can tell, the only emergency is that the election is less than two months away,” Mr. Cummings said.

The GOP is prodding witnesses tied to Mrs. Clinton’s use of private email during a particularly tumultuous stretch of her campaign.

Recent polls show her lead over GOP rival Donald Trump is shrinking, and she didn’t immediately disclose a pneumonia diagnosis that’s forced her to take a break from the campaign trail.

On Tuesday Mr. Chaffetz’s panel will hear from Bryan Pagliano, a former senior adviser at the State Department, and witnesses from Platte River Networks, the company Mrs. Clinton hired to handle her server, on Tuesday.

For her part, Mrs. Clinton initially said there was no classified material in her emails, and later changed that statement to say she didn’t send or receive material that was marked classified at the time.

The FBI said there were three emails that did contain the “(C)” marking indicating the information was classified at the time it was sent or received, though Mr. Comey testified last month that Mrs. Clinton, a former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady, might not have been sophisticated enough to understand the markings or the sensitive nature of the information.

Mr. Trump has said the FBI notes show Mrs. Clinton displayed “tremendously bad judgment.”

Mr. Chaffetz said his committee will continue to dig into Mrs. Clinton’s emails and questions that surround them, regardless of the looming election.

“We’re going to keep going at this, full speed ahead,” he said.