FBI Director Comey testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, where he was grilled on a handful of issues.
Comey defended his decision not to pursue charges against Hillary or her associates for the unlawful sharing of classified information. As he explained, he felt the FBI maintained a burden of proving individuals involved, namely Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner, knew sharing classified information was unlawful. Comey concluded they did not.
From The Washington Post:
Hillary Clinton emails containing classified information were forwarded to former congressman Anthony Weiner, the director of the FBI testified Wednesday as he defended his handling of politically sensitive probes surrounding the last year’s presidential race.Under questioning from the senior Democrat on the committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), James B. Comey revealed more details about how Clinton’s emails ended up on Weiner’s computer.Weiner, a New York Democrat, was married to a top aide to Clinton, Huma Abedin. Weiner was being investigated separately for possible inappropriate communications with a minor.“Somehow, her emails were being forwarded to Anthony Weiner, including classified information,” Comey said, adding later, “His then-spouse Huma Abedin appears to have had a regular practice of forwarding emails to him for him to print out for her so she could deliver them to the secretary of state.”The two were investigated for possible mishandling of classified material, but the FBI ultimately dropped the matter without seeking charges because they could not show either of them intended to violate the law, Comey said.“Really the central problem we had with the whole email investigation was proving people… had some sense they were doing something unlawful. That was our burden and we were unable to meet it,’’ he said.
Comey also expressed concern over the credibility of former AG Lynch’s Justice Department after she met with former President Bill Clinton on a private plane just days before the conclusion of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary’s email use was to be announced. Both insisted the meeting was purely social, but the appearance suggested otherwise.
Full quote here:
Hillary very recently blamed the FBI’s announcement revealing the bureau’s email probe for her embarrassing electoral loss. Comey said he “prayed to find a third door” but felt it best to share with Congress what the FBI had found.
“When the Anthony Weiner thing landed on me on October 27 and there was a huge — this is what people forget — new step to be taken, we may be finding the golden missing emails that would change this case, if I were not to speak about that, it would be a disastrous, catastrophic concealment. It was an incredibly painful choice, but actually not all that hard, between very bad and catastrophic.I had to tell Congress that we were taking these additional steps. I prayed to find a third door. I couldn’t find it. Two actions: speak or conceal. I don’t think many reasonable people would do it differently than I did, no matter what they say today. If you were standing there, staring at that on October 28, would you really conceal that? So I spoke.”
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