Comey on Tuesday gave a scathing assessment of Clinton’s email practices, followed by his conclusion that “no reasonable prosecutor” would charge her with a crime.
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On Thursday, Comey was given an opportunity to rebut some of those charges during a hearing on Capitol Hill before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
“I do not think they were careless”, she said. “But, like I said, I can understand why people would ask that question”.
Comey said he “predicted” his decision would spur an “intense debate”. I know from 30 years with the Department of Justice they have grave concerns about whether it’s appropriate to prosecute somebody for gross negligence, which is why they’ve done it once … in a case involving espionage.
Some of them were “marked”, as Comey noted, adding: “But even if information is not marked “classified” in an email, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it”. “That is the characteristic of all the prosecutions involving mishandling of classified information”.
The Republican National Committee said in an email to reporters that Clinton “continued to misrepresent the facts about her email scandal and refused to commit to cooperating with a rekindled State Department probe into her handling of classified material”.
But Mr Kirby said this week former officials can still face “administrative sanctions”.
However, Mr Comey said the FBI investigation had found Mrs Clinton was “extremely careless” in sending classified information via her personal email account, and that 110 emails had contained classified information. Had the “average Joe” done what she had done, he said, that person would go to prison.
“Whenever those of us who are concerned about fairness in the criminal justice system attack police officers, you are doing a disservice to the cause”, he said. The panel’s chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said lawmakers may seek a federal investigation into whether Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, lied to the committee in testimony previous year. “I regret that but I am very glad that this is behind us now and we are moving forward”.
The committee’s top Democrat, Elijah Cummings, accused Republicans of politicising the investigation. They urged President Barack Obama’s administration to clear for public release all of the supporting evidence and documents referenced in the report.
“I beg you to fill the gap”.
Clinton also said that she used only one mobile device for both government and private emails for “convenience”, and turned over all emails to the State Department.
FBI Director James Comey summarized his findings on Clinton’s email servers in 15 minutes – then spent hours going over the details with Congress.
Though her statement was not recorded, a summary of it was prepared by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “It sure looks like there is one standard for we the people, and an entirely different one if you’re politically connected, if you’re Secretary Clinton'”.
“The Petraeus case, to my mind, illustrates perfectly the kind of cases the Department of Justice is willing to prosecute”, Comey told the committee. That is a flawless illustration of the kind of cases that get prosecuted.
Comey left the door open for other actions in the case, including downgrading security clearances for anyone who mishandles classified information as Clinton and her staff did.
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The investigation formally ended Wednesday when Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that no charges would be filed.
