Report: Comey was using private email, too

James Comey (FBI photo)

Remember back when then-FBI Director James Comey investigated Hillary Clinton's transmission of classified information through a private email server and concluded no reasonable prosecutor would file charges against her?

It seems that Comey knew exactly what he was talking about, since he, too, was using his personal email for government work.

Investigate reporter Sara Carter notes the New York Post found that at least seven email messages on Comey's private Gmail account were so sensitive that the Department of Justice declined to release them.

The refusal came in a Freedom of Information case brought by government watchdog Cause of Action Institute.

The Post got 156 pages of messages from the Gmail account in which Comey and his chief of staff, James Rybicki, were conducting government business.

There apparently are about 1,200 pages of messages being sought.

But the DOJ refused the release the seven sensitive emails, arguing they "disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions."

Another 363 pages were withheld because they contained "privileged FBI communications" or "personal privacy" issues.

"The messages – which span from 2013 to 2017, with many highly redacted – were obtained by the Post after conservative watchdog, Cause of Action Institute, filed a Freedom of Information lawsuit seeking Comey's work-related emails from his private account," the report said.

The Post said they reveal Comey "used his personal email throughout the Clinton email investigation."

"Using private email to conduct official government business endangers transparency and accountability, and that is why we sued the Department of Justice," John Vecchione, Cause of Action Institute's CEO, told the Post.

"We're deeply concerned that the FBI withheld numerous emails citing FOIA's law enforcement exemption," he said. "This runs counter to Comey's statements that his use of email was incidental and never involved any sensitive matters."

The report said Comey even admitted the hypocrisy after complaining his mobile unit was "not sending emails" and asking an aide to send documents to his private account.

In another incident, Comey sent Rybicki an article concerning Russian hackers trying to break into Clinton's email server.

WND reported in August a federal judge told the Justice Department to save Comey's personal emails that were relevant.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly came in an effort by another Washington watchdog, Judicial Watch, to obtain records regarding Comey's discussions with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sens. Chuck Schumer and John McCain.

The decision came in a lawsuit that followed requests by Judicial Watch and the Daily Caller News Foundation for the records.

The judge wrote, "In order to avoid any possible issues later in this litigation, the court will grant plaintiff's motion [for the protective order]."

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton at the time said the FBI "has been playing shell games with Comey's records and other records, so we're pleased the court issued this preservation order."

About the same time, Paul Sperry, in a report for RealClearInvestigations, found that while Comey had assured Congress that emails uncovered on a personal laptop used by top Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband, the disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, would be examined, there was a growing body of evidence that they were ignored.

Comey later told Congress that "thanks to the wizardry of our technology,” his agents were able to quickly review 694,000 emails. He said the agents eliminated the vast majority of messages as "duplicates" of emails previously seen, and agents worked "night after night after night" to scrutinize the remaining material.

But a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told Sperry a technical glitch prevented FBI technicians from accurately comparing the new emails with the old emails.

In fact, only 3,077 emails were reviewed.

"Most of the emails were never examined, even though they made up potentially 10 times the evidence" of what was reviewed in the original year-long case that Comey closed in July 2016, the law enforcement official told Sperry.

Nevertheless, the "extremely narrow" search, after more than a month of delay, uncovered more classified material that had been transmitted by Clinton through her unauthorized server, the official said, further contradicting Comey's testimony.

Clinton, however, was never confronted with the sensitive new information, and it was never analyzed for damage to national security, Sperry reported.