FBI Director James Comey “may have broken the law” by showing favoritism to Republicans in announcing new investigative steps regarding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid alleged on Sunday evening.
In a sharply worded letter that suggested Reid has lost confidence in Comey, the Nevada senator charged that Comey is withholding sensitive information about Russian meddling in the United States election and had “rushed to publicize” what Reid deems “thin innuendo” about emails that may be relevant to the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s email practices. Reid said his staff’s investigation into Comey’s work indicates the FBI director may have violated the Hatch Act, a law that prohibits political activity by most executive branch officials.
“Your actions in recent months have demonstrated a disturbing double standard for the treatment of sensitive information, with what appears a clear intent to aid one political party over another,” Reid said in the letter to Comey, dated Oct. 30. “Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law.”
An FBI spokeswoman had no comment and said it was not clear whether Comey had received the letter by Sunday evening.
On Friday, in a letter to congressional leaders, Comey said his department has discovered new evidence regarding a probe into Clinton’s emails after Comey had cleared Clinton this summer, an event that had Democrats cheering and Republicans howling. With Comey’s curveball coming less than two weeks before the presidential election between Clinton and Donald Trump, Democrats and Republicans alike have demanded more information about whether the emails are relevant and how they affect a long-standing investigation of Clinton. And Trump has celebrated Comey’s decision, which seemingly rejuvenated his sagging hopes for the White House.
On Sunday, Reid became perhaps the harshest critic of the FBI director yet, making his case for a “double standard” by lambasting Comey for not releasing “explosive information” regarding “close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisers and the Russian government.”
Meanwhile, Reid wrote that Comey had raced to publicize the new information about Clinton in the “most negative light possible.”
Reid was the leader of the Senate when Comey was confirmed in 2013 over a filibuster by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who was requesting more information about domestic drone surveillance. The Nevada Democrat said Sunday he regretted his advocacy for the director’s confirmation.
“I led the fight to get you confirmed because I believed you to be a principled public servant. With the deepest regret, I now see that I was wrong,” Reid wrote.
In reaction to Reid’s letter, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) tweeted: “Harry Reid is a disgrace to American politics, among worst men ever in Senate. He can’t go soon enough, & many Democrats privately agree.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/reid-comey-letter-230514#ixzz4OgACaIcU
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook
coming from someone who’s broken the law many times, he ought to know .. yeah ought ..,like in 30-ought 6
F. Y. Harry Reid!
I hope this sinking ship takes his a$$ with it
Harry Reid is a low-life scum bag, but so is Comey. Reminds me of the movie Silverado, where Kevin Costner walks out of the saloon with a gun in each hand, shoots both ways and takes out two bad guys. That’s where we-the-people are today.
Reid, if you told me the sky was blue, I would look up to confirm, because you are a liar.
Harry Reid…
He’s like a pedophile calling a serial rapist a law breaker.
Well…., that’s maybe have broken the law.
I guess Harry should call him a “person of interest”…., that has allegedly broken the law.
Harry…Ratt
Reid…..Bassturd
Said the pot to the kettle.
That’s horse Shit. Announcing a criminal investigation has nothing to do with politics. 1. He favors Clinton. 2. If Clinton doesn’t want bad press don’t be a criminal.
isn’t he just so funny. NOT how bout your own track record, start w Russia
Isn’t this @ssclown overdue for another beating?
Or was that his brother… hard to keep track of it all.
Harry Reid, claiming something as ‘law’ that that limp-dick president ‘claimed’ to be ‘law’ just 4 years ago.
What a joke.