“The appropriate resolution of this case was not to bring a criminal prosecution”, Comey told the House Oversight Committee Thursday at a hastily called hearing in Washington.
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Clinton was cleared of any wrongdoing but the findings of the FBI investigation cast doubt on her honesty and trustworthiness. I get that. But you know what would be a double standard? And Comey has too. A nation that celebrates great leaders like George Washington, who at least according to the national mythology once said, “I cannot tell a lie”, and Abraham “Honest Abe” Lincoln, for their integrity and forthrightness, surely can demand at least a semblance of truthfulness in its top leader. “I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but there are a lot of questions on how this came down”. As I said, that’s the definition of negligent. Chaffetz said lawmakers will ask the FBI to investigate whether Clinton lied to Congress when she testified about her e-mail practices.
Comey, in fact, said it seemed possible that “hostile actors” did hack her computers.
Republicans said they were infuriated with the FBI’s decision and confused by the way it was presented.
The Hillary Clinton email scandal is far from over. By countless observations, he is an honest man, and there is, in fact, an important legal principle that provable criminal intent should be a major factor in deciding whether to try someone in certain kinds of cases.
Responded Comey: “We did not develop evidence of that”.
Comey made the disclosure to argue the point that the case of Petraeus, who knew he had top secret information and lied to the FBI about it, differed from the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information.
“We don’t want to put people in jail unless we prove that they knew they were doing something they shouldn’t do”, Comey said.
That FBI Director James Comey, grilled by a U.S. Congressional panel on Thursday, is acclaimed by everyone, Democrats and Republicans alike, as a fine, highly professional, ethical public servant, is not in question.
COMEY: She used multiple devices during the four years of her term as secretary of State.
Comey specifically rebutted a litany of GOP charges including that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been biased, ignored the law, applied it unjustly or coordinated the decision with Clinton’s campaign.
But as Comey reports, she did. “Because when the gap is not filled by you, it will be filled by others”, Cummings said. Earlier this week he said former officials could face loss of security clearances or other administrative sanctions.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee who had spent much of the primaries calling Ted Cruz a liar, after Cruz dropped out of the race now threw venom on Clinton, innumerous times calling her a liar and a crook. He then suggested that Congress would ask the FBI to investigate whether Clinton lied under oath.
“At the end of the day, Comey did the right thing. In my mind, it illustrates importantly the distinction to this case”.
The Oversight Committee is chaired by Republican U.S. Representative Jason Chaffetz, known for his persistent questioning of Obama administration officials.
With the training we receive and certainly a secretary of state would receive or someone who lives the White House, it goes a little above and beyond just the common sense individual out there trying to determine knowing that classified information will be brought and to remove to an unauthorized site ought to cause pause there, shouldn’t it?
The hearing served as a means to energize a conservative base that might be disillusioned with Trump, as Republicans are working to hold onto their majority in Congress. But privately, some Republicans question the decision to pick a fight with Comey, a Republican from the Bush Justice Department with a reputation for independence.
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He rebuked the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee for “extremely careless” handling of classified information but said no reasonable prosecutor would charge her or her staff criminally.
