President Donald Trump attacked former FBI Director James Comey for drafting a statement exonerating Hillary Clinton early into the investigation into her private email server.
Trump's tweet came after two Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, including chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, wrote a letter to the FBI this week.
"Conclusion first, fact-gathering second — that's no way to run an investigation," they wrote, according to Fox News. "The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy."
The senators found out about Comey's statement after reading transcripts of interviews with his aides conducted by the Office of Special Counsel, which interviewed Comey's chief of staff James Rybicki and a deputy general counsel, Trisha Anderson.
"According to the unredacted portions of the transcripts, it appears that in April or early May of 2016, Mr. Comey had already decided he would issue a statement exonerating Secretary Clinton," the senators said.
"That was long before FBI agents finished their work. Mr. Comey even circulated an early draft statement to select members of senior FBI leadership. The outcome of an investigation should not be prejudged while FBI agents are still hard at work trying to gather the facts."
They add, "It is unclear whether the FBI agents actually investigating the case were aware that Mr. Comey had already decided on the investigation's outcome while their work was ongoing," the senators wrote.
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