Former FBI Director James Comey stands by his decisions regarding the FBI’s investigation into the unauthorized email server of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that she used while she was secretary of state, arguing that the case “was one where the public interest required that we speak.”

Months before the 2016 election in July, the FBI recommended no criminal charges against Clinton, even though Comey accused Clinton at the time of being “extremely careless” and said she could have faced disciplinary action if she still was working for the State Department. But the public needed to know this information to understand why the FBI wasn’t choosing to prosecute Clinton, Comey said.