October 29, 2016, 09:38 am
Lynch advised Comey against letter to Congress: report
By Harper Neidig
Attorney General Loretta Lynch advised FBI Director James Comey not to send a letter to Congress informing them of the discovery of new emails related to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, The New Yorker reported early Saturday.
A source in the Obama administration told the magazine that Lynch argued for following the Justice Department’s practice of not taking actions that could influence the outcome of an election.
Comey reportedly said he felt obliged to notify Congress about the review of the new emails because he had promised to keep lawmakers informed when he testified about the investigation in July.
“Of course, we don’t ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed,” Comey wrote in a memo to FBI employees that was obtained by the Washington Post. “I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record.
“At the same time, however, given that we don’t know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don’t want to create a misleading impression. In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season there is significant risk of being misunderstood.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/303424-report-lynch-advised-against-sending-letter-to-congress
