Defending his July 2016 public statement about the Hillary Clinton email case, then-FBI Director James Comey told senior agents later that year he worried the Justice Department would “screw around” with a decision on whether to prosecute her, and he said that regardless of what happened, “we knew it was going to suck in a huge way,” according to an FBI transcript reviewed by Fox News.
In October 2016, Michael Kortan, who was serving as the FBI’s public affairs chief but has since retired, shared the transcript of Comey’s comments on the Clinton case delivered behind closed doors to special agents in charge. Based on the email date and time stamps, it appears the comments were made three weeks before the presidential election. With Comey now launching a media tour to promote his book, “A Higher Loyalty,” the transcript provides a window into his thinking and decisions during a critical period before the election.
Comey said he thought the FBI should have taken the lead because following standard procedures was not an option. “…what will happen to us is the Department of Justice will screw around it for Lord knows how long, issue probably a one sentence declination, and then the world will catch on fire, and then the cry in the public will be where on the earth is the FBI, how could the FBI be part of some corrupt political bargain like this, there’s no transparency whatsoever…”
He continued, “We knew it was going to suck in a huge way. I knew. Nothing’s (sic) that’s happened, by the way, the storm has been outside my expectations. I knew what was going to happen, but I also knew after a lot of reflection that we would do far more damage to our beloved institution if we did the normal thing.” – READ MORE
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