FBI chief ‘mildly nauseous’ at thought he turned election
Comey defends his decision to disclose Clinton probe but stay mum on Trump inquiry
WASHINGTON— FBI director James Comey defended his decision to disclose the agency was restarting its probe into Hillary Clinton’s email use just days before last year’s election while not disclosing a separate probe into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.
And he said he’d do it all again, even though it may have affected the presidential race.
“It makes me mildly nauseous to think we might have had some impact on the election,” Comey told the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday.
Yet in reviewing his decision, he said, not disclosing the probe “would have been catastrophic.”
Comey’s defence came a day after former Democratic candidate Clinton said that the FBI chief’s move along with Russian meddling cost her the presidency. Comey addressed the Senate panel as the bureau continues to investigate the Russian role in the campaign but said he wouldn’t say a “peep” more than he already has about that probe.
The director’s decision-making in the two separate probes brought him harsh questioning from members of both political parties. Committee chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa pressed Comey over what the Republican lawmaker called “materially inconsistent” responses from the FBI on how much its Russia probe has relied on unverified sources, including an unsubstantiated and salacious dossier on Trump’s links and activities in Russia prior to his candidacy.
“Much of the dossier has been prov- en wrong,” Grassley said, asking if the FBI had paid for the report, and warned that the agency’s credibility was at stake. “We need to know if there was anything improper between the Trump campaign and the Russians” or if people are merely “chasing a conspiracy theory,” he added.
Ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California disputed Comey’s decisions on the inquiry into Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.
It’s still “very unclear” why the FBI’s treatment of the Trump and Clinton investigations were handled “so dramatically different,” she said. “I join those who believe that the actions taken by the FBI did in fact have an impact on the election.”
“You took an enormous gamble: the gamble was that there was something there that would invalidate her candidacy. And there wasn’t,” she said.