Grassley casts doubt on FBI credibility in political inquiries

Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Wednesday she believes FBI Director James Comey’s decision to reveal the agency was re-investigating Hillary Clinton’s emails affected the outcome of the 2016 election.

The emails Comey was referring to in his October 28 notification he sent to Congress were found on former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner’s laptop – former Clinton State Department aide Huma Abedin’s estranged husband. “You do not release information like that just before an election”.

To have hidden the fact that the investigation had been reopened would, from his point of view, been “catastrophic”, Comey emphasized to the lawmakers.

“We’ve got to walk into the world of really bad”, he said he concluded. “I could see two doors”. Graham said Weiner shouldn’t have had access to classified information and Comey agreed, adding that there is a possibility that a crime was committed.

Comey said he had to speak up on October 28 because he believed the FBI had found emails that could provide insight into Clinton?s use of a private server and possibly shift the focus of the investigation.

Clinton has, in part, has blamed her loss on Comey’s decision.

Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that she’s taking responsibility for her 2016 election loss but believes misogyny, Russian interference and questionable decisions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation influenced the outcome.

Persistent questions from senators, and Comey’s testimony, made clear that the FBI director’s decisions of last summer and fall involving both the Trump and Clinton campaigns continue to roil national politics and produce lingering second-guessing about whether the investigations were handled evenly.

The head of the FBI testified Wednesday that even in a secret session he isn’t sure he can reveal to an entire congressional committee the status of his agency’s counterintelligence investigation into possible collusion between members of President Donald Trump’s team and Russian Federation. Yates will testify first before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee next week. In this case, the Democrats continued to accuse Comey of fixing the elections by publicly disclosing the renewed Clinton email investigation while withholding information about the FBIs investigation of the Trump campaign for colluding with the Russians.

Both Democrats and Republicans have attacked Comey for speaking in 2016, while President Trump praised him and called him “the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton”.

In an appearance before the House Intelligence Committee in March, Comey confirmed the FBI was investigating possible collusion between Russian Federation and Trump’s presidential campaign.

“On a number of occasions you chose to comment directly and extensively on that investigation”, Sen.

David Axelrod in an interview with CNN on Wednesday slammed Hillary Clinton for not taking full responsibility for her loss to President Trump in November.

Comey said, in response to questioning by Republican Thom Tills of North Carolina, that he himself had become increasingly concerned that the leadership of the Department of Justice “could not credibly complete the investigation and decline prosecution without grievous damage to the American people’s confidence in the justice system”.

In essence, what many Democrats have been arguing for the past six months is that Comey should have actively buried evidence that was pertinent to an ongoing congressional investigation – one that incidentally turned up plenty of potential wrongdoing – because it might hurt their preferred candidate’s chances.