Hillary Clinton Email Inquiry Won’t Be Rushed, F.B.I. Chief Says

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/us/politics/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-james-comey.html

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WASHINGTON — The director of the F.B.I. said Wednesday that he would not be rushed into finishing his agency’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails on an election timetable. And he would not say whether the inquiry would be wrapped up by the November presidential election.

“We want to do it well and we want to do it promptly, so I feel pressure to do both of those things,” James Comey, the F.B.I. director, said.

“I don’t tether to any particular external deadline,” he said during a round-table discussion with reporters, “so I do feel the pressure to do it well and promptly, but as between the two, I always choose ‘well.’”

While Mrs. Clinton has characterized the investigation as a “security inquiry,” Mr. Comey said he was “not familiar with the term.”

A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton declined to comment on whether the campaign’s view of the matter was different from Mr. Comey’s. The Republican National Committee said that Mr. Comey’s comments confirmed that Mrs. Clinton had been “deliberately misleading” the public.

The F.B.I.’s case began as a security referral from the inspectors general of the State Department and the nation’s intelligence agencies, who were concerned that classified information might have been stored outside a secure government network. But multiple law enforcement officials said the matter quickly became an investigation into whether anyone had committed a crime in handling classified information.

As Mrs. Clinton seeks to secure the Democratic nomination for president and turn her attention to Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, questions over her emails have remained a political headache — one that Mr. Trump seems inclined to compound if he can.

Hoping to brand Mrs. Clinton with the kind of two-word moniker (“Crooked Hillary”) that helped topple several Republican opponents, Mr. Trump has made clear his intention to focus his campaign energies on Mrs. Clinton’s emails.

“Typical Hillary Clinton,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday in a statement emailed by an aide. “Can never tell the truth, and in this case, it’s a very big deal!”

By contrast, her Democratic opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, has largely avoided the issue, saying months ago during a debate that Americans were “sick and tired of hearing about” the emails.

But for Mr. Trump, the strategy carries risk, potentially opening the door to questions about his own record of disclosures. He has faced criticism over his refusal to release his tax returns.

Mr. Comey said he had been receiving regular briefings on the status of the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s emails, which has included interviews with some of Mrs. Clinton’s closest aides at the State Department on her decision to use a private server for all of her government business as secretary of state. Some emails that went through her server appear to have been classified at various security levels because of sensitive information.

Officials say that Mrs. Clinton would probably be interviewed soon by the F.B.I. On Sunday, she said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the F.B.I. had not asked to interview her, but reiterated that she would be available to law enforcement officials as necessary.

“I made it clear that I’m more than ready to talk to anybody, anytime, and I’ve encouraged all of my assistants to be very forthcoming,” Mrs. Clinton told CBS.