FBI Director Says Decision to Forgo Charges Against Hillary Clinton 'Wasn't That Hard' to Make
abcnews.go.com
In a message to his workforce today, FBI Director James Comey further defended his decision not to recommend pressing charges against Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state.
“I hope you see clearly what I see, that this investigation was done honestly, independently and competently,” Comey said in a video message to FBI personnel, according to one government employee who recounted the message to ABC News. “For investigators and their supervisors, all the way up to me, the decision was not only the right one, it actually wasn’t that hard a decision, given the facts and the law.”
In fact, he said, “What I don’t have patience for is people suggesting that the FBI did it in some way that was anything other than apolitical and independent, because that’s just not true, and anybody who knows the FBI should know better.”
Nevertheless, the panel’s chairman, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said he was “mystified” and “confused” by Comey’s decision, insisting “the average Joe” believes that if others had “sloppily” handled classified information as Clinton did, “they’d be in handcuffs.”
According to Chaffetz, the message being sent is, “If your name isn’t Clinton or you aren’t part of the powerful elite ... Lady Justice will act differently.”
Comey dismissed such criticism, saying the decision was made by career agents and high-level prosecutors “who didn’t give a hoot about politics but who cared about what are the facts, what is the law and how have similar people — all people — been treated in the past.” |
