Story highlights During his hearing, FBI Director James Comey said the idea of impacting the election made him "mildly nauseous"

Sen. Feinstein on the FBI probe into Clinton: 'I think everybody agrees that in one way or another, it impacted the election'

Washington (CNN) Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Wednesday she believes FBI Director James Comey's decision to reveal the agency was re-investigating Hillary Clinton's emails affected the outcome of the 2016 election.

"I think everybody agrees that in one way or another, it impacted the election," the California Democrat said on "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" Wednesday. "Should (Comey) have done it? Probably not. But knowing him, it was on the spur of the moment and he just did it."

The comments came hours after Comey's hearing, during which the official strongly defended his choice to send a letter to Congress on October 28, 2016 that suggested the FBI was looking into Clinton's email server again after new emails had been discovered on a computer shared by Anthony Weiner and top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

"It was a hard choice, I still believe in retrospect the right choice," Comey told senators at a judiciary committee hearing on oversight of his agency. "I can't consider for a second whose political fortunes will be affected."

He said the idea of impacting the election made him "mildly nauseous."

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