Several news outlets just revealed that senior Justice Department officials warned FBI that Director James Comey that his decision to notify Congress about renewing the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server was not consistent with department policy. But Comey sent the letter anyway.
While there was no explicit order not to send the letter, department officials expressed concern that what Comey wanted to do was contrary to department policies and procedures, one law enforcement source told CNN.
“We don’t comment on an ongoing investigation. And we don’t take steps that will be viewed as influencing an election,” one Justice Department official told The Washington Post. But Comey decided to disregard their concerns and sent the letter anyway, shaking the presidential race 11 days before the election day.
“Director Comey understood our position. He heard it from Justice leadership,” the official said. “It was conveyed to the FBI, and Comey made an independent decision to alert the Hill. He is operating independently of the Justice Department. And he knows it.”
FBI director James Comey. Photo: State department
In a memo explaining his decision to FBI employees soon after he sent his letter to Congress, Comey said he felt “an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed.”
In Comey’s note to employees, he seemed to anticipate that his decision would be controversial.
“In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood,” Comey wrote.
Below is the letter Comey sent to FBI employees explaining his decision:
Present and former DOJ officials said they were shocked by Comey’s actions, reported CNN.
Comey’s decision to ignore the advice of Justice leadership is “stunning,” said Matt Miller, who served as Justice Department spokesman under then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. “Jim Comey forgets that he works for the attorney general.”
“I think he has a lot of regard for his own integrity. And he lets that regard cross lines into self-righteousness,” Miller said. “He has come to believe that his own ethics are so superior to anyone else’s that his judgment can replace existing rules and regulations. That is a dangerous belief for an FBI director to have.”
To make matters worst, it was later reported that the emails under review are not from Hillary, OR TO HER!
