FBI director again defends integrity of Clinton email probe

Washington — Republican lawmakers may question the decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton for using a private email server as secretary of state, but they should not question the investigation’s thoroughness, FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday as he again defended the agency’s actions.

“You can call us wrong, but don’t call us weasels. We are not weasels. We are honest people, and we did this in that way,” Comey said under hours of questioning at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. “Whether you disagree or agree with the result, this was done the way you would want it to be done.”

Republicans grilled Comey on the FBI’s year-long investigation into the potential mishandling of classified email, which concluded in July when the FBI recommended against prosecution and the Justice Department closed the case. They demanded to know why multiple key witnesses had been granted some kind of immunity, questioned him on his interpretation of the key felony statute at issue and argued that the outcome revealed a double standard in the treatment of powerful public figures.

But Comey, who has repeatedly sought to explain the FBI’s decision making, again said that the case was not a close call. Though he said in July that Clinton and her aides had been “extremely careless” in their handling of classified information, he said no one else would have been prosecuted for the same acts — though they might have gotten into trouble with their employer.

“To prosecute on these facts would be a double standard because Jane and Joe Smith would not be prosecuted on these facts,” Comey said.

Republicans were not satisfied, arguing that Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, illegally mishandled classified information. Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia contended that Clinton had played “fast and loose with national security” and said it defied logic that she could escape prosecution. Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas suggested that the FBI reopen the investigation in light of what he said were “several new developments.”

Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, insisted that the fix was in from the start, asserting that the decision not to prosecute was made even before Clinton was interviewed in early July — a claim Comey vigorously denied.