Ken Cuccinelli on Wednesday criticized FBI Director James Comey’s decision to recommend against indicting Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state.
Cuccinelli, a Republican former attorney general of Virginia who as an attorney has represented clients charged with mishandling classified government material, said the case Comey laid out against Clinton in describing what the FBI investigation turned up clearly rises to the level of criminal.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner‘s “Examining Politics” podcast, Cuccinelli praised Comey’s transparency in laying out what the FBI discovered and how it conducted its investigation into the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
But he was critical of Comey’s conclusion that Clinton’s use of a private email server to conduct government business, including sending and receiving sensitive information, didn’t constitute criminal activity.
“I would agree that he did a walk-through dismantling of every lie she has told in her own defense. Nonetheless, having defended a classified-materials case and having looked at this law, it is absolutely not the case that this is not a prime case for prosecution. They’re letting her off,” Cuccinelli said.
Cuccinelli was a top adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas during the GOP presidential primary, and has expressed serious misgivings about presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump because of the New York businessman’s lack of conservative bona fides.
But Cuccinelli said that he will reluctantly vote for Trump in November, given that his only other option, as he views it, is Clinton.
“Elections are about choices,” Cuccinelli said. “Am I happy with the choice? No I’m not. But I’m going to make my choice, and I expect to vote for Donald Trump.”
