Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — FBI Director James Comey will face questioning from the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning.
Questions about Comey’s actions prior to the 2016 election are widely expected.
Leading up to the November election, Comey made the decision to send a letter to Congress on Oct. 28, notifying lawmakers that the FBI was going to investigate emails potentially related to Clinton that had been found during an unrelated investigation. Prior to this, Comey said the investigation into Clinton’s server had been completed.
The FBI ultimately concluded in early November, a few days before the election, that the new batch of emails had not changed its previous conclusion that Clinton should not be charged for her private email server as secretary of state.
There was a lot of criticism of Comey from Democrats who felt his actions cost Hillary Clinton the election.
“I was on the way to winning until a combination of Jim Comey’s letter on Oct. 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me but got scared off,” Clinton said Tuesday at a Women for Women event in New York.
But Comey was also criticized by former Justice Department officials for breaking with the department’s protocol and longstanding practice of avoiding investigative actions so close to an election that could potentially influence the outcome.
“I am interested in hearing from the FBI director what lessons he’s learned from the consequences of that decision,” Senate Judiciary Committee member Chris Coons, D-Del., said of the hearing in an interview with CNN Wednesday morning.
Tuesday night, President Trump went after Clinton and Comey on Twitter, saying the “best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton is that he gave her a pass for many bad deeds!”
The last time Comey testified in front of Congress was in March. Comey answered questions for the first time about Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election and Trump’s unsubstantiated allegations of wiretapping against his predecessor.
Comey had confirmed that the FBI is investigating the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election and “the nature of any links” or connections between Trump campaign associates and the Kremlin.
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