Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., warned FBI Director James Comey that he may have broken the law, as he is guilty of demonstrating a “double standard” when he played political favorites by publicizing the agency’s reopened investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails after a new trove of documents were found in a separate case.
“Your actions in recent months have demonstrated a disturbing double standard for the treatment of sensitive information, with what appears to be a clear intent to aid one political party over another,” Reid wrote in a letter sent to Comey.
The top Democratic senator, who is not seeking reelection this year, added that Comey’s “double standard” may be in violation of the Hatch Act, which prevents federal officials from using their authority to influence an election.
“Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law,” Reid wrote.
When it came to the alleged ties between Republican nominee Donald Trump, his campaign staff and Russia, Reid accused Comey of resisting his calls to share details with the public, despite having “explosive information.”
“By contrast, as soon as you came into possession of the slightest innuendo related to Secretary Clinton, you rushed to publicize it in the most negative light possible,” Reid said.
Reid ended his letter by expressing regret for supporting Comey’s 2013 nomination to head the FBI in the face of a Republican filibuster.
“Please keep in mind that I have been a supporter of yours in the past. When Republicans filibustered your nomination and delayed your confirmation longer than any previous nominee to your position, I led the fight to get you confirmed because I believed you to be a principled public servant,” Reid wrote. “With the deepest regret, I now see that I was wrong.”
Comey has been hit by all sorts of backlash for sending the letter to lawmakers just under two weeks before the Nov. 8 election. Democrats in particular have lashed out, adopting Trump’s refrain that the election is “rigged.”
The Clinton campaign, including the candidate herself, has called on the FBI to release all “relevant facts” they have on the emails.
Meanwhile Republicans, including Trump, have largely applauded Comey’s decision to reopen the case, which came to light when he sent a letter to lawmakers Friday.
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said Sunday that the “controversy” over not indicting Clinton months ago drove the FBI’s decision to reopen its investigation into her use of a private server to handle confidential emails as secretary of state.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., took to social media to fire criticism directly at Reid. “Harry Reid is a disgrace to American politics, among worst men ever in Senate. He can’t go soon enough, & many Democrats privately agree,” Cotton tweeted.
Harry Reid is a disgrace to American politics, among worst men ever in Senate. He can’t go soon enough, & many Democrats privately agree. https://t.co/4lCKx5pKi4
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) October 30, 2016
Though Comey told lawmakers Friday his agency found emails related to Hillary Clinton’s private email server, he didn’t yet have a warrant to read them. His agency found the new documents in former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner’s laptop in a separate sexting scandal investigation. Weiner is the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
An unnamed agency official told Yahoo News the agency was in talks to get one in an article published Saturday. When Comey wrote the letter, “he had no idea what was in the content of the emails,” said one official.
Sunday evening NBC News reported the FBI had obtained a second warrant needed to search the Clinton-related emails in Weiner’s laptop after the agency already had one specific to a different matter.
Letter to Director Comey 10-30-2016 by Daniel on Scribd
