The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
In an interview on Tuesday, Clinton claimed that had been a major factor in her loss, saying: “If the election had been on October 27, I’d be your president.”
But Comey said it was the right choice and he would do it again if he had to.
“I’ve lived my entire career by the tradition that if you can possibly avoid it, you avoid any action in the runup to an election that might have impact, whether it’s a dogcatcher election or president of the United States.”
“Even in hindsight — and this has been one of the world’s most painful experiences — I would make the same decision.”
Reminder: Fired FBI Director Comey was scheduled to testify before Senate Intel on Thursday (h/t @MariannaNBCNews): pic.twitter.com/32l2llhtoQ
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) May 9, 2017
Comey was repeatedly questioned by senators Wednesday on why he spoke up on the Clinton emails investigation during the election but kept secret the FBI’s probe into Russian interference during the campaign.
Clinton said that Russian interference also damaged her campaign while boosting Trump’s.
Comey answered that it was a matter of timing — that the Clinton probe was only confirmed after it was underway for three months, while the Russia investigation was much younger at the time.
“With respect to the Russia investigation, we treated it like we did with the Clinton investigation. We didn’t say a word about it until months into it,” he said.
– WikiLeaks is ‘intelligence porn’
Comey meanwhile refused to comment on where the Russia investigation stands now or who on the Trump team is being examined for possible collusion with Moscow.
He also took time to blast WikiLeaks, which US officials say abetted Russia’s campaign interference operation by publishing stolen documents from the Democratic National Committee which embarrassed Clinton.
He said WikiLeaks cannot claim protections as a journalism organization, because it has become “simply about releasing classified information to damage the United States of America.”
“It crosses a line when it moves from being about trying to educate a public and instead becomes about intelligence porn — just pushing out information about sources and methods without regard to the First Amendment values that normally underlie press reporting,” Comey told the committee.
