Posted on 05/11/2016 1:59:11 PM PDT by Red Badger
FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday he feels "pressure" to complete the federal investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server competently and quickly.
However, Comey said the pressure is similar to other high-profile cases the bureau handles such as terrorism investigations.
"We want to do it well and we want to do it promptly. I feel pressure to do both of those things," Comey told reporters during a roundtable at FBI headquarters. "As between the two things, we will always choose 'well.'"
Comey indicated he's not taking into account political events, including the upcoming conventions or the fall election.
"I don't tether to any external deadline," the FBI chief said.
Comey also swatted away a series of questions about the status of the investigation, describing it only as pending. He did repeat that he is tracking the probe closely.
"I remain close to that investigation to make sure that it’s done well and has the resources that are needed...My goal in any investigation is to do it well and do it promptly, especially investigations of intense public interest. All of that remains true,” Comey said at the outset of the hour-long session. “It remains under investigation.”
Asked about complaints from some security clearance holders that they would be in jail if they acted similarly to Clinton, the FBI director declined to comment directly, but said: "There's no special set of rules for anybody that the FBI investigates."
The FBI began investigating Clinton's e-mail set up last summer, after the intelligence community's inspector general reported to the Justice Department that classified information appeared to have gotten outside authorized channels.
The State Department has declared classified more than 2,100 of the messages on former Secretary of State Clinton's private server, including 22 deemed "top secret."
Clinton has said that none of the messages were marked classified at the time she received them. She has also disputed that any contained highly sensitive information and said that she wants all the messages made public.
Several top Clinton aides have reportedly been interviewed by the FBI in recent weeks, including former Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills and former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin.
Clinton and her team have made a point of not describing the FBI's work as an "investigation," but alternately as a "security review" or "security inquiry." They've also noted that the issue was referred to the FBI not as a criminal matter but as an intelligence breach.
However, in response to a question Wednesday, Comey said he wasn't familiar with the term "security inquiry" that Clinton and her aides have used. The FBI chief said he considers the work agents are doing to be an "investigation."
"It's in our name. I'm not familiar with the term 'security inquiry','" the director said.
However, he passed up the chance to repeat a reporter's characterization of it as a "criminal" probe.
Not to mention all of the foot dragging, legal wrangling and obfuscation by the Clintonistas and the State Department
From your mouth to God’s ear.
We are long overdue for a clean sweep, especially of all that dung under the rug.
A little bird told me.
If I were a reporter able to ask Hillary a question:
“As your party’s nominee, you will be given access to some of the information from the president’s daily briefing.
Given your record, can the American people trust you to handle this information properly?”
He’s covering up as fast as he can. Jeesh.
The FBI’s credibility is on deathwatch.
7.5 years of oversight by Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch would imbue any organization with liberalism, political correctness, and cronyism.
As time goes on this smells more and more like a cover-up.
Who knows what the FBI is finding?
There’s decades of criminal activity by Hillary.
Once the FBI starts investigating, they can start nosing around in all kinds of things.
Accomplices.....cover ups.....bribes.....
For the same reason Hillary shows up on Meet the Press when something unfavorable to her goes public. Comey must have been livid over the CNN report that nothing illegal has been found during the investigation. Check when they announced the press conference. I bet it happened after the CNN leak.
There’s a war between Hillary, her supporters and the FBI
I would be impressed if the charges also include RICO charges against the Clinton Crime Family Slush Fund and thd piped money from foreign sources, through Canada, to the Slush Fund.
The pressure you feel is bammy telling you to find that hillary mismanaged her email and committed no crime.
What a nice thought! I sure hope you're right. I've been disappointed so many times by "investigations" that it's hard to be optimistic, but I thank you for the good thoughts.
I hope you are right, but my prediction is that they will water down the crimes and Mrs. Bill Clinton will plead guilty to a misdemeanor a la General Petraeus.
I will run naked through a tick and chigger infested forest if Hillary is convicted of anything......
Even incompetence can be a crime...............
If it looks like a duck..................
You would be fired before the hour was up.................
Turns up the heat..............
Exactly.
Interesting you think this investigation will lead to Benghazi. The story that will not die (for good reason). I am expecting it to uncover the tentacles intertwining into the Clinton Foundation - but it all may be interrelated.
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