The FBI’s director has said he will not “say another peep” on the ongoing investigation into alleged links between Donald Trump and Russia until the probe is complete.
Giving testimony on Capitol Hill before the Senate Judiciary Committee, James Comey claimed he treated the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server in the same way he approached the investigation into Mr Trump.
Ms Clinton this week once again blamed Mr Comey’s 11th hour intervention in the 2016 election, when he revealed the probe into her emails had been reopened, as one of the key factors for her defeat.
But Mr Comey said it would been “catastrophic” to have have concealed that development from Congress, something he had vowed to do. At the same time, he felt “mildly nauseous” to think his actions had impacted at the elections
“I can’t consider for a second whose political futures will be affected and in what way,” Mr Comey said. “We have to ask ourselves what is the right thing to do and then do it.”
The Associated Press noted that at times, Mr Comey spoke with a raised voice. He said he had faced two difficult decisions when his agents told him they found emails potentially connected to Ms Clinton case on a laptop belonging to disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, who was married to close Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
Mr Comey said he knew it was unorthodox to alert Congress to that discovery 11 days before Americans picked a new president.
But he said he decided it would have been wrong to keep silent, especially when he had testified under oath that the investigation had been concluded.
“I sat there that morning and could not see a door labeled, ‘No action here’,” he said
