Former FBI Director James Comey stands by how he managed the FBI’s investigation into the unauthorized email server of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, used while she was secretary of state. Even so, Comey apologized to Clinton and her supporters for not being able to “do a better job explaining” why he made the choices he did regarding the investigation, according to a new report.
Less than two weeks before the 2016 election, Comey revealed the FBI was reopening the investigation after finding a new cache of emails on a laptop belonging to Anthony Weiner, the husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
Although Comey shared two days before the election that the agency determined Clinton shouldn’t be prosecuted, reaching the same conclusion the FBI made when it first closed the investigation that summer, Clinton has blamed Comey for contributing to her loss to President Trump.
Clinton wrote she felt Comey “shivved” her in her recent memoir What Happened.
“I have read she has felt anger toward me personally, and I’m sorry for that,” Comey wrote in his upcoming book, according to the Washington Post. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t do a better job explaining to her and her supporters why I made the decisions I made.”
Additionally, Comey shared a conversation he had with then-President Barack Obama toward the end of November after the 2016 election.
“I picked you to be FBI director because of your integrity and your ability,” Obama said, according to Comey. “I want you to know that nothing — nothing — has happened in the last year to change my view.”
“Boy, were those words I needed to hear … I’m just trying to do the right thing,” an emotional Comey said in response.
Comey also disclosed that after the election, then-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., approached him about “what you did to Hillary Clinton.” Comey told him, “I did my best with the facts before me.”
But shortly thereafter, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said to Comey, “I know you. You were in an impossible situation.”
Comey was fired by Trump in May 2017. Originally, Trump claimed Comey was ousted per the suggestion of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, but admitted days later the “Russia thing” was a factor.
The book is scheduled to be released on April 17.
