White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer could not say Tuesday whether Trump retains confidence in the law enforcement official. ‘I haven’t asked him, ‘ Spicer said.
President Donald Trump came under pressure on Tuesday to review his FBI director’s status following an allegation that the Obama-appointed official greatly exaggerated the number of emails that Hillary Clinton’s top aide sent to her husband.
In his sworn testimony, the FBI chief told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Huma Abedin made ‘a regular practice’ of forwarding ‘hundreds and thousands’ of emails to her husband Anthony Weiner, ‘some of which contain classified information.’
But it has been reported that FBI officials privately acknowledged that Comey offered inaccurate testimony about the inspection brought about by a DailyMail.com exclusive on Weiner’s emails.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer could not say Tuesday whether Trump retains confidence in the law enforcement official.
‘I haven’t asked him, ‘ Spicer said after a false start that began with, ‘I have no reason to believe’ and was followed by an admission that he doesn’t know where Comey stands with the president.
Comey is said to have exaggerated the number of Hillary Clinton emails involved in the scandal that has been cited as a cause of her losing the November presidential race. T
The FBI is aware and was racing to clean up his mess, Pro Publica said, but it changed course on Monday and did not send a letter to Congress admitting the mistake.
The bureau is also probing Comey’s controversial decision to notify lawmakers just before the election that his team was re-examining its investigation into Clinton’s emails by looking into messages found on Weiner’s laptop.
The letter is viewed by many as costing Clinton the election, since she lost by less than a percentage point in key swing states after polling indicated she was well in front of her opponent before the FBI chief’s move.
Trump’s spokesman said last Wednesday that the president had confidence in the Justice Department official who was appointed to a 10-year term by Obama, in spite of an assault that suggested otherwise on Twitter.
‘FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds!’ Trump had tweeted.
Spicer told reporters then: ‘The president has confidence in the director.’
‘I haven’t asked him. I have not asked the president since the last time we spoke about this, ‘ he told ABC News’ Jon Karl.
Karl observed that Spicer was sure where Trump stood a week ago, but he’s not now.
‘I don’t, in light of what you’re telling me, I don’t want to start speaking on behalf of the president without speaking to him first, ‘ Spicer said.
Now it appears that Comey misspoke in his testimony.
An investigation by ProPublica revealed that FBI officials now acknowledge that Abedin forwarded ‘just a handful’ of emails – not ‘hundreds and thousands’ as Comey stated – to her husband so he could print them out.
It has also become apparent that none of the emails forwarded by Abedin contained markings that would indicate they were classified.
Weiner’s laptop was seized by the FBI as part of an investigation into a matter unrelated to the Clinton emails – the former Congressman’s sexually explicit online relationships with young women – as a result of a DailyMail.com story.
After Comey’s letter which revealed the existence of the emails on October 28 – just days before the November 8 election which Clinton would eventually lose to Donald Trump – the investigation found that the emails contained no incriminating information.
Comey was asked by Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz about the ‘hundreds and thousands’ comment during his testimony why Abedin and Weiner weren’t charged with mishandling classified information.
‘You said Ms Abedin forwarded hundreds or thousands of classified emails to her husband on a non-government, non-classified computer, ‘ said Cruz.
‘How does that conduct not directly violate the statute?’
Comey backtracked, saying: ‘If I said that, I misspoke. She forwarded hundreds and thousands of emails, some of which contain classified information.’
He acknowledged that both Abedin and Weiner ‘potentially’ may have violated the law, but no charges were brought because the FBI could not establish that they acted with criminal intent.
The FBI chief said the bureau was unable to interview Weiner about the issue ‘because he has pending criminal problems of other sorts’.
Returning to Capitol Hill to get grilled by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Comey was immediately challenged by the top panel Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California – and ended up giving his most detailed explanation of the cross-currents he faced.
Addressing his decision to announce the investigation into the emails, Comey told Senators he had no choice but to reveal new developments in the bureau’s investigation just days before the presidential election, as he faced only bad options.
‘Why was it necessary to announce, 11 days before a presidential election, that you were opening an investigation on a new computer without any knowledge of what was in that computer? Why didn’ t you just do that investigation as you would normally, with no public announcement?’ Feinstein asked him.
Comey laid out the details of the investigation, saying in detail why he felt he had no choice but to divulge information to Congress, which ultimately made it public.
‘I could not see a door labelled “No action here”, ‘ Comey responded.
Laying out his mindset at the time, he said: ‘There’s an election in 11 days. Lordy that would be really bad.
‘Concealing in my view would be catastrophic.’
The FBI director was asked to explain the moment he was faced with the decision of revealing the email scandal or keeping a lid on it, with less than a fortnight left to run of the race for The White House.
