Libertarian vice presidential candidate Bill Weld suggested Sunday that FBI Director James B. Comey acted out of self-interest when he sent Congress a letter informing them that federal investigators had found additional emails possibly related to Hillary Clinton’s homebrew server.
Comey “had to do a balancing act, and I think he came down in the wrong place,” the former Massachusetts governor and former Justice Department official said in an interview this weekend with Fox News’ Leland Vittert.
“The sending of the letter, by the director, I personally find inconceivable, inconceivable,” Weld said. “[I]t is particularly surprising since Jim Comey has always had, long had, a good, very good reputation in the Department of Justice.”
“I think, with deepest deference, and I’m a big admirer of his, but I think he looked out for himself, and he didn’t look out for the rest of us,” he added.
Comey informed Democratic and Republican lawmakers this week that his agency had turned up additional emails possibly related to the private, unauthorized server Clinton maintained when she worked at the State Department.
The news came months after Comey seemingly closed the agency’s investigation of Clinton’s private servers in July when he recommended that no charges be brought against the Democratic nominee.
The additional emails mentioned this week were found during the FBI’s review of disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, who is under federal investigation for allegedly sexting a minor.
Weiner shared the laptop with his estranged wife and Clinton’s longtime aide, Huma Abedin.
The laptop may contain as many as 1,000 emails, which FBI agents are checking now to see if they’re related to official government work, if they’re are classified, or if they’re simply duplicates of emails authorities already processed.
The New York Times indicated separately that the number of emails was several thousand emails, adding that investigators are working now sort it all out.
“A senior law enforcement official said that tens of thousands of emails belonging to Ms. Abedin were backed up on Mr. Weiner’s computer, which the F.B.I. had obtained as part of its investigation into Mr. Weiner,” the Times wrote.
The Times report added, “Mr. Comey said in his letter to Congress that he did not know how long it would take to review the emails. Law enforcement officials said they did not know if and how many were duplicates of emails discovered in the earlier investigation.”
The Washington Post also stressed that it’s too early to say whether the emails are significant, or whether some or all of them are duplicates of emails they’ve already seen.
This weekend, Weld joined with critics who say Comey should’ve kept news of the additional emails under his hat.
“My emotional response is: This should not happen. I absorbed and mainlined the Justice Department’s motto, which is to dispense justice, do justice, without fear or favor, and I don’t feel like that is being done here,” the Libertarian vice presidential candidate said in reference to the possible impact Comey’s actions may have on the 2016 election. “There is time to prevent any lasting damage from occurring but it certainly, right now, it’s troubling.”
