Former FBI Director James Comey admits that his assumption of Hillary Clinton’s win in the November 2016 presidential election influenced his decision regarding the investigation into the Democratic nominee’s email server.
Comey was asked by ABC News in an interview for a response to Clinton saying Comey’s announcement shortly before the election that the FBI was going to look back into the email probe defeated her.
“I hope not,” Comey said during the interview.
He went on to ask the American people to put themselves in his shoes. He says he was not trying to help or hurt Clinton, but trying to do the right thing.
The interviewer pressed him further on whether his decision was influenced by the assumption that Clinton was going to win the election.
“It must have been. I don’t remember consciously thinking about that, but it must have been because I was operating in a world where Hillary Clinton was going to beat Donald Trump, and so I’m sure that it was a factor,” he said.
“I don’t remember spelling it out, but it had to have been, that she’s going to be elected president and if I hide this from the American people, she’ll be illegitimate the moment she’s elected, the moment this comes out,” he added.
Comey was quick to say that at the FBI, he could never consider whose political fortunes would be affected by a decision.
Clinton has been quick to blame her loss on Comey. She says she was on track to win until later October when news broke that Comey had sent a letter to Congress announcing the FBI was reviewing additional emails regarding the investigation into her private email server.
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