Comey Confirms Anthony Weiner Was in Possession of Classified Clinton Emails

FBI Director James Comey hit back Wednesday against Democratic criticism of his decision to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails 11 days before the 2016 election.

He said although it made him “mildly nauseous” to think he could have had some impact on the election, he believes he did the right thing and to this day, would not change his mind.

He said the seized laptop of Anthony Weiner — the husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin — had metadata that “showed there were thousands” of Clinton’s emails on his laptop, including classified information and what officials believed could be missing emails from her first three months as secretary of state.

He said after repeatedly telling members of Congress that the FBI had concluded its investigation into Clinton, the only right thing to do was to let Congress know the case was reopened.

He said not saying something would have been an “act of concealment,” and that he was faced with two choices: speak or conceal. Concealment would have been “catastrophic,” he said.

He said he was asked by a subordinate whether his decision would help then-candidate Donald Trump with the election, but he did not “for a moment” think about whose political fortunes would be affected, and that he had to do the “right thing.”

Comey has come under fire from Democrats since Clinton’s loss in November to Trump.

Clinton on Tuesday said she was “on the way to winning” until Comey’s announcement.

“I was on the way to winning until a combination of Jim Comey’s letter on October 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me but were scared off,” she said at an international women’s conference.

“If the election were on October 27, I’d be your president,” she added.