US House speaker slams Clinton as scandal-prone

The Speaker of the US House of Representatives in Congress, Paul Ryan, says if Hillary Clinton wins the US presidential race, her time in office would be overwhelmed with her “scandal baggage.”

“This is what life with the Clintons looks like. It’s always a scandal one after another, then there’s an investigation,” Ryan, the most senior elected Republican in the country, told Fox News in an interview on Tuesday. “You never know what’s coming next.”

“She will come in just like (President) Barack Obama did, but with her scandal baggage. I don’t think that’s what the American people want to see,” said Ryan, who is second in the US presidential line of succession, after the vice president.

Republican lawmakers have criticized the Democratic presidential candidate as scandal-prone since the FBI launched a new investigation into her emails.

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and other Republicans have quickly taken advantage of the FBI's announcement to cast doubt on Clinton’s integrity, hoping the news will damage not just Clinton’s presidential campaign, but also the Democrats’ chances of regaining control of one or both chambers of Congress.

FBI Director James Comey told Congress in a letter made public on Friday that his agency was looking into new emails that may be connected to Clinton.

Clinton was investigated by the FBI over her use of a private server and how she handled classified information while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. However, Comey concluded in July that there was not enough evidence to bring criminal charges against Clinton.

The FBI has revealed very little to the public about the new emails under investigation, except that they were uncovered during an unrelated investigation into former US congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Ryan said he had voted for Trump in early voting last week, but he still does not plan to campaign with the New York businessman, a policy he adopted after a 2005 video emerged last month in which Trump was heard boasting about groping women.

“My focus personally right now is saving our House majority. I’m going to Indiana, Michigan, New York and Virginia today to fight for House Republicans,” he told Fox.