Gowdy: Because Comey Let Clinton Off, He Likely Won't Face Charges for Leaking Classified Information

Katie Pavlich | April 23, 2018 1:30 PM

According to the Department of Justice Inspector General, fired FBI Director James Comey is under investigation after leaking classified information to a friend last year, who then passed it along to a reporter. The information was contained in a series of memos written by Comey after meetings and phone calls with President Donald Trump.

But despite what the law says about disseminating classified information, Comey may not face conseqences. According to House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, Comey may have saved himself thanks to the exoneration of Hillary Clinton.

"Not by the standard he set in the summer of 2016. God knows how hard it would be to win that case," Gowdy said in response to a question about whether Comey broke the law. "Remember, he ignored the statute that says 'grossly negligent.' He now has a requirement that it has to be intentional and you have to do it to harm the United States. So under the standard that he set in summer 2016 with Secretary Clinton, I don't think Jesus could win that case."

The release of the memos last week came after Gowdy and a number of leading Republicans threatened the FBI with a subpoena for failing to turn them over by an earlier deadline.

"We have long argued former Director Comey's self-styled memos should be in the public domain, subject to any classification redactions. These memos are significant for both what is in them and what is not," Gowdy released in a joint statement with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes. "Former Director Comey leaked at least one of these memos for the stated purpose of spurring the appointment of Special Counsel, yet he took no steps to spur the appointment of Special Counsel when he had significant concerns about the objectivity of the Department of Justice under Attorney General Loretta Lynch."