Engel: Comey Needs to Clean Up This Mess

It’s Time for Director Comey to Explain the Double Standard

November 1, 2016

WASHINGTON—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today made the following statement regarding Russia's attempt to influence the election and the controversy surrounding the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI):

“A hostile foreign government is meddling in our election. In the last day, new reports have surfaced tying the Republican nominee for President to Russia through his former campaign manager, through a private server linked to a Russian bank, and even through direct influence by that government on the candidate himself.  

“Do we know how these allegations are being investigated?  Of course not. The FBI Director apparently thinks that discussing an investigation of a foreign government’s interference in our election might unfairly sway voters.  And yet, days before the election, throwing around vague innuendo about the manufactured email scandal seemed completely in bounds, despite years of Justice Department policy and practice.  The double standard is astounding.
 
“Now, as people have already started going to the polls, national news coverage is dominated by FBI palace intrigue and breathless speculation.  Meanwhile, Director Comey's Bureau continues to leak like a sieve, causing more public confusion and revealing deep dysfunction within the FBI’s ranks.  

“This needs to stop. Director Comey has called for transparency, but has now withdrawn from public view.  The American people need to know why he decided to withhold information about Russian interference while reigniting email hysteria without any substantiation.  He needs to clean up this mess.”

###