Former FBI Director James Comey claimed last year there was “no special set of rules” for Hillary Clinton, just nine days after he circulated a draft statement of the statement that would exonerate her for her email use — a statement drafted before several key interviews.
Comey was asked by Fox News’ Catherine Herridge in May 2016 whether Clinton, in connection with the investigation into her use of a private email server when she was secretary of state, would be subject to a special set of rules because she is “powerful and politically connected.”
“I’m not going to comment, other than to say there are no special set of rules for anybody that the FBI investigates,” he replied.
Yet, the FBI revealed Monday that Comey had drafted the statement months before he interviewed Clinton and other key officials, with a release called “Drafts of Director Comeys [sic] July 5, 2016 Statement Regarding Email Server Investigation Part 01 of 01.”
While almost all of it is redacted, it an email titled “Midyear Exam — UNCLASSIFIED” sent from Comey on May 2, 2016, to a group including Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, general counsel James Baker and chief of staff James Rybicki.
The document also shows a May 16 response from Rybicki requests comments “so we may roll into a master doc for discussion with the Director at a future date.”
In that statement, eventually delivered in July, Comey blasted Clinton at length for being “extremely careless” with classified information when she served as secretary of state. However, crucially for Clinton and her presidential campaign, he did not recommend charges to the Justice Department.
The release appears to confirm the contents of a letter sent by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to FBI Director Christopher Wray in August in which he wrote that “it appears that in April or early May of 2016, Mr. Corney had already decided he would issue a statement exonerating Secretary Clinton.”
Fox News has since contacted Comey’s book agent asking Comey to explain the May 2 email, but did not receive a response.
Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY
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