President Obama remains confident in FBI Director James Comey to run the agency despite widespread criticism from both sides of the aisle that he has badly mishandled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, according to a top White House spokesman.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday that Obama “continues to have confidence in [Comey’s] ability to run the FBI” despite two letters Comey sent to Congress over the course of the last two weeks, the latest coming Sunday, that updated the status of the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s emails.
“The president is entirely confident that Director Comey is not using his authority to advantage a particular political candidate or a particular political party,” Earnest told reporters Monday.
The first letter came Oct. 21, and said the FBI was reopening the agency’s investigation into the Clinton email server by notifying Congress of new emails the FBI was reviewing that may relate to the case. The unusual move had Democrats up in arms accusing Comey of spreading innuendo and rumors that could benefit Trump too close to the election.
The second came Sunday when Comey told key congressional committees that he had reviewed the new emails and he stood by his earlier conclusion in July of finding no evidence of criminal activity.
Comey had previously closed the email probe in July with an announcement that, although Clinton and her aides had been “extremely careless” with classified material on the personal server, he had not found evidence to charge her with a crime.
Asked about the latest letter Monday, Earnest said no one at the White House, including Obama, had any advance notice that Comey planned to send the Sunday letter to Congress.
He also referred to earlier comments in which the White House stood by Comey and argued that he didn’t think he was intentionally trying to politicize the election.
“One week ago today I stood in the White House briefing room… [and] indicated I was neither prepared to defend nor criticize Comey’s decision,” Earnest told reporters Monday. “Today I’m not prepared to defend nor criticize Director Comey’s decision to send another letter.”
Obama himself has been less reticent, carefully chiding Comey twice over the last week for sending the earlier letter to Congress because it spurred “innuendo” and “rumor” that could impact the election results.
Earnest emphasized that the White House has gone “to great lengths” to avoid interference in the FBI’s investigation.
“The White House has not been briefed on this investigation over the course of the last year and a half… we have not been briefed on that investigation over the course of the last week and a half either,” he said.
He also acknowledged that most of the presidential campaign debate over the last 10 days has concentrated around Comey’s decision to send the Oct. 21 letter to Congress essentially re-opening the email investigation.
The country could only know the impact Comey’s actions would have on the election after all the poll results are in, Earnest said.
