FBI Director James Comey is defending his agency's release of the latest information on its investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, saying it was not done at the beginning of a holiday weekend in an effort to bury the story.
Critics ranging from GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have questioned the timing, but CNN reports that Comey tells his staff in an internal memo that the timing was coincidence.
The process of getting the information together was finished Friday morning, Comey says in the memo, adding that he actually considered holding it until Tuesday to avoid the criticism that he knew would be coming for releasing it on Friday before the long Labor Day weekend, when fewer people would likely be paying attention to news reports.
"[B]ut my judgment was that we had promised transparency and it would be game-playing to withhold it from the public just to avoid folks saying stuff about us," Comey wrote. "We don't play games. So we released it Friday. We are continuing to process more material and will release batches of documents as they are ready, no matter the day of the week."
Among Comey's many critics were Ryan, who told WRJN radio's Glenn Klein: "It's like the most buried time you could ever put out a story. I'm surprised. I can't believe that they would do what is such a patently political move. It makes them look like political operators versus law enforcement officers.
Assange told Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity on Tuesday that the timing "draws questions to what sort of game the FBI is trying to play."
Of such critics, Comey said, "Those suggesting that we are 'political' or part of some 'fix' either don't know us, or they are full of baloney (and maybe some of both)."
He said he will be testifying at the end of September before the House Judiciary Committee as part of the agency's annual oversight of its work.
"Of course, I'm guessing folks will want to ask about the email investigation," he said.
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