Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey was one of several conservative legal scholars who tore into James Comey at a private function, just eight days before the FBI director reopened the case into Hillary Clinton's emails, the Washington Examiner reported.
The Examiner reported 100 lawyers attended the forum — titled "The Law after Comey's decision" — to discuss Comey's decision not to bring charges against Clinton in July.
"When he said no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case, I couldn't believe my ears," the Examiner reported Mukasey saying to the audience.
Mukasey, also a former federal judge, was appointed attorney general by former President George W. Bush in 2007 following the resignation of Alberto Gonzales.
Among the other speakers to criticize Comey's decision, according to the Examiner:
- Hadley Arkes, founder of the James Wilson Institute.
- Andrew McCarthy, of 1993 World Trade Center bombing prosecution fame.
- Sean Bigley, attorney who specializes in classified material cases.
"The truly serious problem faced now by James Comey's decision is on what grounds would it be possible now to sustain any serious program of classified information and keep the information out of the hands of our real enemies if Hillary Clinton is given the kind of pass she was given?" the Examiner quoted Arkes.
Whether the criticism reached Comey and/or played a role in his actions late last week is not known.
"I would like to think it played some role in it — I don't know if that's necessarily the case," Bigley told the Examiner.
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