Sarah Huckabee Sanders claims that James Comey's actions may have violated federal law

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday doubled down on her suggestion from Tuesday's press briefing that some of former FBI Director James Comey's conduct "likely could have been illegal." Sanders laid out the case for why Comey isn't necessarily off the hook, even though the memos detailing his private conversations with President Trump were leaked after he was fired and contained no classified information.

"The memos that Comey leaked were created on an FBI computer while he was the director. He claims they were private property, but they clearly follow the protocol of an official FBI document. Leaking FBI memos on a sensitive case regardless of classification violates federal laws, including the Privacy Act, standard FBI employment agreement, and nondisclosure agreement all personnel must sign," Sanders said. "I think that's pretty clean and clear that that would be a violation."

Sanders declined to say what action should be taken against Comey. "I'm certainly not an attorney, but I think that the facts of the case are very clear," Sanders said, adding that it will be up to the Department of Justice to look into the incident.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up