White House: Obama Doesn’t Believe James Comey Is Trying to Influence the Election

The White House doesn’t intend to challenge FBI Director James Comey, even though he notified Congress that the agency would revisit the email investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server just 11 days before the presidential election.

“The president doesn’t believe Director Comey is trying to influence the outcome of an election,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

Earnest said that Comey was a “man of integrity and character,” but added that he would “neither defend nor criticize” his decisions about informing the public.

“”I’ll neither defend, nor criticize, what Director Comey has decided,” he said.

But he did note that it was an unprecedented action that differed from White House tradition about refusing to discuss ongoing investigations. Earnest added that the FBI director was “in a tough spot.”

“He’s got a very difficult job,” Earnest said.