But the FBI director now says he is “very, very interested” in finding out if FBI agents leaked insider information
Topics: Politics News, News
A day after both the sitting U. S. president and the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee criticized him for his role in the outcome of last year’s presidential election, FBI director James Comey was grilled by lawmakers on the both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill.
Comey said during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Wednesday that while he did understand that Republican lawmakers would likely leak any information into Hillary Clinton use of a private email server, he now says he feels “mildly nauseous” over the idea that his decision to go public about the investigation may have swayed the election.
“It was a hard choice, I still believe in retrospect the right choice, ” Comey told senators at a judiciary committee hearing on oversight of his agency . “I can’ t consider for a second whose political fortunes will be affected.”
While attempting to defend himself, Comey inadvertently admitted that he knew the congressional leaders, like Republican House Oversight Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz, would likely leak the insider information in the heat of a bruising political season.
“Yeah, did I know they were going to leak it? Of course. I know how Congress works. But I did not make an announcement, ” he insisted.
“Concealment, in my view, would have been catastrophic, ” he continued, calling the decision “disastrous for me personally”:
And I could be wrong, but we honestly made a decision between those two choices that even in hindsight — and this has been one of the world’s most painful experiences — I would make the same decision.
During the hearing, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT, asked about Giuliani’s claims that he had inside information about the bureau’s probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
