Attorney General told FBI director James Comey NOT to send letter to Congress about bureau reopening the investigation into Hillary's emails because it could influence the election outcome
- Attorney General Loretta Lynch advised Comey against sending a letter to Congress about the FBI's reopened investigation into Clinton's emails
- She argued to Comey that he should follow the Justice Department's practice of not taking actions that could influence the election
- Comey broke away and sent a memo to bureau staffers explaining his decision to notify Congress
- He wrote that the FBI would not 'ordinarily' inform Congress about its ongoing investigations
- But said he noted he felt an 'obligation to' given that he testified repeatedly in recent months that bureau's investigation was completed
- On Friday, he sent a letter to eight Republican lawmakers regarding the reopened investigation - rocking Clinton's campaign
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Attorney General Loretta Lynch advised and objected against FBI Director James Comey's move to send a letter to Congress to inform them about the reopening of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server.
Lynch argued to Comey that he should follow the Justice Department's practice of not taking actions that could influence the outcome of a presidential election, The New Yorker reported on Saturday.
Comey broke from Lynch, who objected to the move along with the Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, and independently sent the letter to Congress on Friday, dropping the bombshell about the restarted investigation based on newly discovered emails, rocking Clinton's campaign.
Comey's supporters argue that he had to break away from Lynch and act independently on the issue due to her compromising herself when she had an impromptu visit with former president Bill Clinton late into the investigation earlier this year.
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Attorney General Loretta Lynch (above) advised FBI Director James Comey against sending a letter to Congress to inform them about the reopening of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server
Comey broke away from Lynch and notified Congress about its reopened investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server because of its political sensitivity, it has been revealed
The FBI director, who is an employee of the Justice Department and is 'covered under its policies,' gave top officials at the Justice Department advance notice prior to sending the letter to lawmakers, an official close to the matter said.
Four years ago, former Attorney General Eric Holder formalized a policy not comment publicly about politically sensitive investigations within 60 days of an election in a memo to all Justice Department employees.
In his memo, he warned that when handling political cases, officials 'must be particularly sensitive to safeguarding the Department's reputation for fairness, neutrality, and nonpartisanship.'
Holder wrote that in order to guard against unfair conduct, employees who face questions about 'the timing of charges or overt investigative steps near the time of a primary or general election' should confer with the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division.
When Comey was asked if he followed those guidelines put in place and conferred with the Public Integrity Section, Kevin Lewis, a deputy director of public affairs for the Justice Department, said, 'We have no comment on the matter,' the New Yorker reported.
Lynch asked Comey to follow the policies put in place at the Justice Department, but Comey reportedly said he had promised to let members of Congress know if there were further developments in the case of Clinton's emails.
He also sent a separate memo to staffers explaining his decision, noting the bureau would not ordinarily inform Congress about its ongoing investigations, but said he felt he needed to do so amid the looming election.
In the internal memo obtained by Fox News, notes he felt an 'obligation' to inform lawmakers about the investigation given he had testified repeatedly in recent months that the investigation was completed.
'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 the memo.
'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 do not know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don't want to create a misleading impression, he continues.
'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, but I wanted you to hear directly from me about it.'
The memo sent to staffers was in addition to the letter Comey, who is a Republican appointee of President Obama, had sent to eight Republican lawmakers.
Bombshell: On Friday he sent a letter to eight Republican lawmakers regarding the reopened investigation
In that letter, he said he had launched an investigation into the 'pertinent' exchanges to determine if any of the emails - which allegedly number more than 1,000 in total - contain classified information and whether any of them are 'significant.'
Comey said that after learning about the emails he advised the bureau to take 'appropriate investigative steps' to review them.
Comey sent the letter to heads of the of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, Judiciary Committees and two Appropriations subcommittees that deal with justice issues, as well as the House's Oversight Committee and the Senate's Homeland Security Committee.
'Although the FBI cannot yet access whether or not this material may be significant, and I cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work, I believe it is important to update your Committees about our efforts,' he wrote.
Trump gleefully seized on news that FBI agents are investigating the newly discovered emails.
The probe had been thought finished in July, when the FBI had recommended that no charges be filed against Clinton, though it found her to have been 'extremely careless' in her use of a private server.
Clinton was pictured leaving her campaign plane after it landed in New York on Friday night after her campaign was rocked by the news of the FBI probe
A downcast Abedin was also pictured leaving Hillary's campaign plane dressed in an orange winter coat and laden with luggage
Clinton's campaign was outraged and implied that Comey's intervention could be politically-tinged because, in Clinton's words, the letter was only sent to 'Republican members of the House'
Following Friday's revelation, Clinton's campaign was outraged and implied that Comey's intervention could be politically-tinged because, in Clinton's words, the letter was only sent to 'Republican members of the House.'
'We have not been contacted by anyone,' she complained.
In a brief press conference on Friday, Clinton cried foul and demanded that Comey reveal more information about the probe.
She also declared herself 'confident' that voters, and the FBI, would conclude that she had done nothing wrong.
'The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately,' she said.
'We don't know the facts, which is why we are calling on the FBI to release all the information that it has.'
Her defiant words came after Trump - himself dogged by scandal over his alleged sexual misconduct - made hay, declaring Clinton unfit for office as a jubilant crowd of supporters in New Hampshire chanted: 'Lock her up!'
Concern that the renewed probe would damage Clinton's formerly impressive momentum spooked the markets, with US stocks, the dollar and oil prices tumbling lower on the prospect of a close vote.
Clinton noted that Comey had said he himself does not know whether the emails are significant or not.
'I'm confident, whatever they are, they will not change the conclusion reached in July,' she added.
According to the New York Times, the newly discovered mails emerged after agents seized electronic devices used by Clinton's closest aide, Huma Abedin, and her husband, Anthony Weiner.
The FBI swooped in on Weiner in September after DailyMail.com revealed he had sent explicit messages and graphic pictures to the 15-year-old, fully aware she was under-age.
Weiner is a Democratic former congressman who resigned in 2011 after he was exposed for sending explicit online messages.
The newly discovered emails were sent reportedly by Abedin to Clinton from a laptop used by Weiner, who also saw a bid to become mayor of New York founder over similar claims in 2013.
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