comey's comeback
Comey's response to the DOJ report contains 1 massive subtweet
James Comey still doesn't have any regrets.
A Department of Justice review released Thursday slammed the then-FBI director's choice to announce the bureau was reopening its investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server just weeks before the 2016 election. But Comey "respectfully disagrees," per his response in The New York Times.
The DOJ sharply critiques Comey's "serious error of judgment" in the report obtained by The Washington Post, but concludes he didn't defy FBI norms for political reasons. That reaffirms Comey's belief that the Clinton investigation was "done competently, honestly, and independently," he wrote in the Times. He's also glad this independent review happened, he wrote, because it'll lead to better decisions in the future.
Yet even with a scathing report on his shoulders, Comey couldn't resist using his Times response to take a few shots at someone other than himself. He called the lead-up to the 2016 election as rare as a "500-year flood," and concludes that even the inspector general's opinion in this review won't change his mind. And while he and DOJ notably agreed that there was no case against Clinton, "that probably will not stop some from continuing to claim the opposite is true," Comey quipped.
Notably, Comey remained silent on his ironic use of a personal Gmail account for FBI business.