Michael Isikoff: Comey Undermined Clinton ‘On Everything That She Has Said Publicly’ About Her Emails

On Tuesday’s broadcast of “CNN Tonight,” Yahoo News Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff stated that FBI Director James Comey undermined presumptive Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “on everything that she has said publicly” about her emails.

Isikoff said Comey “did undermine virtually every pillar of her public defense on this since the get-go. She had said she turned over all her work-related emails. Comey said not so. The FBI found several thousand work-related emails that were not turned over. She said she — originally, in her original press conference, she did not send any classified information via email. Comey clearly said not so. They found email chains, going up to top secret classified access programs, that were sent and received on the computer server. She had said that there was — that she had been claiming as recently as last weekend this was a security review. Comey made crystal clear that from the get-go, the FBI was focused on whether she violated a federal felony statute. This was a criminal investigation. So, on everything that she has said publicly, Comey undermined her.”

He continued, “But that said, when he came to the point where he was discussing why the FBI was not recommending criminal charges, what he talked about was the law, but then the precedent. And he said that the FBI looked at the precedent for cases that the Justice Department has brought for classified information, and he found no precedent that matched the details in this case. Even General Petraeus, which is the one that Hillary Clinton’s critics have pointed to the most, involved a conclusion by the FBI that he had lied to them about disclosing classified information…he found no evidence that Hillary Clinton lied to the FBI. People can reach other conclusions about how truthful she was in her public explanations about what happened.”

In the second segment, Isikoff said, in response to a question on whether Clinton should have been charged, “I think you’ve got to take Comey at his word.” And pointed to Comey’s statement that there wasn’t any precedent to form a basis for charging Clinton. you have to go back to the analysis that who pointed to at the end of his statement sayg there was no precedent in previous cases that would have formed the basis for bringing criminal charges and it would have been extraordinary to bring criminal charges or to recommend trillioncriminal charges against the presumptive democratic nominee.

(h/t GOP War Room)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett