Comey acted despite DOJ concerns
Comey notified Congress of email probe despite DOJ concerns
Story highlights
- Clinton said it was "imperative that the bureau explain this issue in question ... without any delay"
- Comey said the FBI "cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant"
(CNN)Attorney
General Loretta Lynch and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates disagreed
with FBI Director James Comey's decision to notify Congress about his
bureau's review of emails potentially related to Hillary Clinton's
personal server, law enforcement officials familiar with the discussion
said.
There was no direct
confrontation between Lynch or Yates and Comey. Instead, the
disagreements were conveyed to Comey by Justice Department staff, who
advised the FBI chief his letter would be against department policy to
not comment on investigations close to an election, the officials said.
They added it was contrary to department policies and procedures, one law enforcement source said.
Comey
decided to disregard their concerns and sent the letter Friday anyway,
shaking the presidential race 11 days before the election and nearly
four months after the FBI chief said he wouldn't recommend criminal
charges over the Democratic nominee's use of the server.
The officials acknowledged there was little Lynch and Yates could do given the fallout over Lynch's controversial meeting over the summer with former President Bill Clinton.
Lynch
and Yates objected after Comey gave advance notice to top officials at
the Justice Department before sending the letter to lawmakers, law
enforcement officials briefed on the matter said. Justice officials
didn't sign off on Comey's decision and he didn't seek their approval,
one official said.
Instead, he
made an independent decision to go against longstanding Justice
Department and FBI practice to not comment publicly about politically
sensitive investigations within 60 days of an election, the official
said.
Comey later explained his decision to provide Congress with the information in a letter to FBI employees.
"We
don't ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I
feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent
months that our investigation was completed," Comey said. "I also think
it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement
the record."
Clinton's
campaign and allies quickly decried the decision's timing, and the
candidate herself on Friday forcefully called on the FBI to release the
"full and complete facts" about its review.
"Voting
is underway, so the American people deserve to get the full and
complete facts immediately," Clinton said at a brief news conference in
Des Moines, Iowa, adding it was "imperative that the bureau explain this
issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay."
Clinton
said she was "confident whatever (the emails) are will not change the
conclusion reached in July," when Comey said he wouldn't recommend
criminal charges in the matter.
Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has spent the past several weeks on defense, seized on the issue.
"Hillary
Clinton's corruption is on a scale we've never seen before," Trump said
at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire. "We must not let her take her
criminal scheme into the Oval Office."
He
later responded to Clinton's statement, saying she "tried to politicize
the investigation by attacking and falsely accusing the FBI director of
only sending the letter to Republicans."
In
a letter to eight congressional committee chairmen Friday, Comey said
investigators are examining newly discovered emails that "appear to be
pertinent" to the email probe.
"In
connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence
of emails that appear pertinent to the investigation," Comey wrote the
chairmen. "I am writing to inform you that the investigative team
briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take
appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to
review these emails to determine whether they contain classified
information, as well as to assess their importance to our
investigation."
Anthony Weiner
The
newly discovered emails are part of an investigation into Anthony
Weiner, according to law enforcement sources. Weiner, the disgraced
former congressman, recently separated from top Clinton aide Huma Abedin
after a sexting incident.
The FBI and the New York Police Department have opened preliminary investigations of
allegations that Weiner, a former New York Democratic congressman,
exchanged sexually explicit text messages with a purportedly underage
girl.
The
emails in question were sent or received by Abedin, according to a law
enforcement official. There were a "considerable number" of emails being
reviewed from at least one device shared by Abedin and Weiner, the
official said. A separate official described it as thousands of
messages.
The FBI is looking at
whether any of the newly discovered emails will have an impact on the
now-closed investigation into Clinton's server. In his letter, Comey
said he was not sure how long the additional review would take and said
the FBI "cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be
significant."
The
big question is whether the return of the email storm, which has
overshadowed her entire campaign, will have an impact on any remaining
undecided voters. Before the latest controversy erupted, Clinton had the
advantage in the race for the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the
presidency. She is leading Trump by six points in CNN's Poll of Polls.
Comey under criticism
Comey
is under withering criticism from the Clinton campaign and
congressional Democrats for releasing the letter so close to the
election. Earlier Friday, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said
"it's extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days
out from a presidential election."
He
followed up on that criticism in a heated conference call with
reporters Saturday, saying Comey's letter was "light on facts, heavy on
innuendo, knowing full what Republicans would do with it. It is not up
to him who owes the public answers to questions that are now on the
table."
Dianne Feinstein, the
California Democrat who is the vice chairman of the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence, said she was "shocked" to read Comey's
letter.
"Director Comey's announcement played right into the political campaign of Donald Trump," she said in a statement.
Even
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin urged Comey to provide more
information: "In line with your commitment to be transparent with
Congress and the public, I respectfully request that the FBI provide as
much information as possible about these new developments without
harming the integrity of its ongoing investigation," Johnson wrote in a
letter to Comey.
The FBI chief felt
he had no choice but to tell Congress now or risk being accused of
hiding relevant information before the election, law enforcement
officials said in explaining the timing. The letter was "carefully
worded," one of the officials said.
The
news united Republicans who have spent the past several weeks grappling
with Trump's controversies. Speaker Paul Ryan jumped on Comey's
announcement to blast Clinton.
Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, tweeted after the news broke, "A great day in our campaign just got even better."
Ryan said Clinton betrayed Americans' trust for handling "the nation's most important secrets."
"This
decision, long overdue, is the result of her reckless use of a private
email server, and her refusal to be forthcoming with federal
investigators," Ryan said in a statement. "I renew my call for the
Director of National Intelligence to suspend all classified briefings
for Secretary Clinton until this matter is fully resolved."
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