Comey told ABC that a desire to ensure Clinton’s victory was seen as legitimate played a role in his decision to announce the bureau would reopen the investigation, made 11 days before the election.
In this file photo taken on 8 June 2017 ousted FBI director James Comey listens during a hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump accused April 13, 2018 the FBI director he fired, James Comey, of leaking classified information, saying he should be prosecuted for lying to Congress under oath. In a new memoir due to hit the bookshelves Tuesday, Comey said Trump reminded him of a mafia boss who demanded absolute loyalty, saw the entire world against him and lied about everything. "James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired," Trump wrote in a Twitter tirade. (Photo: AFP PHOTO / Brendan Smialowski)
Former FBI chief James Comey said his belief that Hillary Clinton would be elected president in 2016 “was a factor” in his handling of the probe into her misuse of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
Comey, who was fired by Trump last year, told ABC that a desire to ensure Clinton’s victory was seen as legitimate played a role in his decision to announce the bureau would reopen the investigation, made 11 days before the election.
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“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 in the interview, to be aired on Sunday.
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“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.
His comments echoed a quote from his memoir, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership” in which he said it was “entirely possible” his concerns over Clinton’s legitimacy “bore greater weight than it would have if the election appeared closer or if Donald Trump were ahead in all polls.” Clinton has previously noted she believes Comey’s announcement played a part in her losing out on the presidency.
“After the Comey letter, my momentum was stopped,” she told NPR in late 2017, adding, “My numbers dropped, and we were scrambling to try to put it back together, and we ran out of time.”
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