FBI director James Comey on Wednesday said that an FBI agent who operated a private email system similar to Hillary Clinton’s would be “in big trouble” at the bureau.
Comey was responding in a House Judiciary Committee hearing to an allegation from Ohio Rep. Steve Chabot that the decision to not charge Clinton with mishandling classified information showed a “double standard.”
Comey said that he disagreed with that characterization. But he added that she would not get off scot-free.
“If we were to recommend she be prosecuted that would be a double-standard,” Comey said. “Because Mary and Joe at the FBI or some other place, if they did this, they would not be prosecuted.”
He added: “They’d be disciplined. They’d be in big trouble in the FBI if they did this. They wouldn’t be prosecuted. That wouldn’t be fair.”