WASHINGTON ― President Barack Obama has weighed in on the controversy surrounding FBI Director James Comey’s decision to insert the bureau into the presidential campaign just days before the election.
Obama, in an interview published Wednesday with Versha Sharma of NowThis, said he’s made a “very deliberate effort” to make sure that it doesn’t look like he’s “meddling” in the process at the FBI.
“Setting aside the particulars of this case, I know that [Hillary Clinton] is somebody who has always looked out for the interests of America and the American people first, and I do think that there is a norm that when there are investigations, we don’t operate on innuendo, we don’t operate on incomplete information, we don’t operate on leaks, we operate based on concrete decisions that are made,” Obama said.
“When this was investigated thoroughly the last time, the conclusion of the FBI, the conclusion of the Justice Department, the conclusion of repeated congressional investigations was that, you know, she had made some mistakes, but that there wasn’t anything there that was, you know, prosecutable,” Obama continued.
Obama said he knows and trusts Clinton.
Comey has faced criticism from both sides of the aisle over his decision to inform Congress on Friday that FBI agents had come across emails that may or may not be relevant to the Clinton investigation. Others within the Justice Department disagreed with his decision, which broke with the tradition of the FBI and DOJ avoiding announcements that could influence elections.
It’s unclear at this point whether the FBI or the Justice Department will be releasing any additional relevant information before Election Day on Tuesday.