4 things James Comey revealed about Hillary Clinton's email investigation
Comey talked a lot about his role in the 2016 election, and little of it made it onto TV
ABC News broadcast less than an hour of former FBI Director James Comey's interview with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday night, focusing mostly on his relationship with President Trump, but the network also published a transcript of the entire five hours of conversation. And a lot of that talk centered around Comey's very public, hotly debated role in the email investigation of Hillary Clinton. Here are some things we learned:
1. Comey knew by spring 2016 the Justice Department wasn't going to prosecute Clinton.
Comey disclosed publicly that the FBI was looking into whether Clinton's emails violated federal law in September 2015, but by May 2016, he was pretty sure there was no prosecutable case. "We had looked all around and scrubbed thousands and thousands and thousands of Hillary Clinton's emails," Comey said. "We had a very clear picture after nine or 10 months of investigation of this case." In fact, he added, "anybody who's actually done investigations knows that if you've been investigating something for almost a year and you don't have a general sense of where it's likely to end up, you should be fired because you're incompetent." After investigators interviewed Clinton on July 2, they determined there was no case.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
2. But the emails found on Weiner's laptop were different in important ways.
But Comey, controversially, informed Congress two weeks before the election that the FBI was reopening the investigation, and Congress promptly told everyone else, arguably paving the way for Trump's upset victory. The Clinton emails that FBI investigators found on Anthony Weiner's laptop were from Clinton's BlackBerry domain, and that could have changed the calculus for prosecutors, Comey told Stephanopoulos. "She used a BlackBerry for the first three months or so of her tenure as secretary of state before setting up the personal server in the basement. And the reason that matters so much is, if there was gonna be a smoking gun, where Hillary Clinton was told, 'Don't do this,' or, 'This is improper,' it's highly likely to be at the beginning."
3. Comey was scared of leaks from rogue FBI agents.
Comey said one reason he felt it necessary to disclose the new batch of Clinton emails in late October was because he was concerned the information would leak out anyway. Stephanopoulos asked if he was "dealing with a rogue element of FBI agents and former FBI agents up in New York," and Comey said he knew there "appeared to be leaks about criminal investigation of the Clintons coming out of New York," and he "commissioned an investigation to find out" where the leaks were coming from. "I don't know what the investigation found," he added. The New York investigators have "a different culture" than the counterintelligence team in Washington, and "there'd been enough up there that I thought there was a pretty reasonable likelihood that it would leak."
4. He didn't reveal the Trump-Russia investigation because it would tip off Trump people.
Comey confirmed that the investigation into possible Trump campaign collaboration with Russia was sparked by adviser George Papadopoulos talking to an Australian diplomat, which the FBI learned about in late July, and "the FBI didn't get any information that's part of the so-called Steele dossier, as I understand it, until after that." Comey said he decided to confirm the Clinton email case because it "began with a public referral" and "we were actually investigating the candidate herself," but he declined to publicly discuss the Trump counterintelligence investigation before the election because Trump wasn't a target; "we didn't know what we had, and we didn't want to tip them off that we were looking at them."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
'Voters know Biden and Trump all too well'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Is the Gaza war tearing U.S. campuses apart?
Today's Big Question Protests at Columbia University, other institutions, pit free speech against student safety
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
DOJ settles with Nassar victims for $138M
Speed Read The settlement includes 139 sexual abuse victims of the former USA Gymnastics doctor
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published