Barr: Comey Dug Himself 'A Deeper And Deeper Hole' With The Clinton Email Case

By Matt Shuham
January 15, 2019 11:20 am

Attorney general nominee William Barr on Tuesday criticized former FBI Director James Comey’s handling of the Clinton email investigation, saying that Comey “disregarded the normal procedures” in his handling of the case.

During Barr’s confirmation hearing Tuesday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) asked the nominee if he’d ever “seen a situation where an FBI director would usurp the authority of the Department of Justice to make that charging decision” and subsequently discuss “derogatory information” while also announcing a recommendation against prosecution, as Comey did with Clinton.

“I’ve never seen that, and I thought it was weird at the time,” Barr responded, before saying he assumed at the time that then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Comey had agreed ahead of time that Comey would make the announcement.

“Later,” Barr added, “it became clearer, to the extent there’s anything clear about it, that I don’t think Attorney General Lynch had essentially delegated that authority to the director.”

Barr called Comey “gifted” but called his announcement of a decision on the Clinton case “wrong,” and said Comey discussing “negative information” about Clinton was “not the way the Department of Justice does business.”

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