James Comey isn't going to get out of the Clinton email investigation unscathed.

After delivering yet another potentially game-changing missive — this one clearing Hillary Clinton of criminal wrongdoing in the email probe — the FBI director found himself caught in an unusual vortex, taking heavy flak from both sides of the aisle.


The almost certain result will be further congressional hearings into both his agency's investigation and his own decision-making, from his unusual July press conference to clear Clinton of charges but rebuke her nonetheless, to his public release of investigative materials, to his shocking revelation on Oct. 28 of new evidence, to yesterday's report that the evidence didn't amount to much, at least as far as Clinton herself is concerned.

“In the days that come, we will have many questions about the FBI's handling of this investigation," Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said Sunday in a statement, echoing comments from leading Republicans like Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

Moreover, Comey's decision to break with precedent and offer public updates about the Clinton probe appear to have opened the floodgates for unauthorized leaks within the agency about other matters — from the Clinton Foundation to Donald Trump aides and Russia — and about dissension within the FBI's own ranks.

"I think he's still going to have a lot of questions asked," said former Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller, who sharply criticized Comey over his public statements about the Clinton probe. "No matter who takes control of Congress the FBI director does have to testify before Congress periodically and he's going to face a lot of questions about how he handled this and they're very hard questions to answer."

Democrats are clearly heartened by Comey's latest announcement, but it did not appear to erase their doubts about his decision to make a disclosure to Congress about new evidence 11 days before the election, defying Justice Department officials' advice to keep mum because of the looming presidential vote.

Despite expressing hope that Comey's latest announcement "should end the email saga once and for all," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) insisted that it only made his earlier decision to reveal the probe all the more foolhardy.

“The October surprise that came only 11 days before Election Day has unfairly hurt the campaign of one candidate and changed the tenor of this election," Feinstein said. “Today’s letter makes Director Comey’s actions nine days ago even more troubling ... I believe the Justice Department needs to take a look at its procedures to prevent similar actions that could influence future elections."

Republicans tried to downplay the impact of the latest Comey missive, describing it as just as baffling as his Oct. 28 letter saying the bureau had turned up new evidence related to the email probe. That turned out to be a laptop seized from former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), the estranged husband of longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin, during an inquiry into Weiner's alleged sexting with an underage girl.

"For months now, I’ve been urging the FBI to provide details regarding the scope of its [Clinton email] investigation. The American people deserve to know whether the FBI sought to determine if Secretary Clinton and her aides deliberately maneuvered around federal open records laws or congressional investigations," said Grassley. "Another vague announcement by the FBI has again failed to provide this context."

In some quarters, there have already been calls for Comey's resignation, although they seem confined at the moment to the political margins.

"If Comey is the hero he thinks himself to be, the next letter he should write is one of resignation in which he accepts the rule of law," former Justice Department officials Doug Kmiec and Edward Gaffney Jr. wrote Friday in The Huffington Post. "The letter should be written and delivered to the president as soon as possible without equivocation, and with the utmost respect for his fellow citizen, regardless of whether that citizen is Democrat or Republican. The letter cannot undo the harm already caused, but it can mitigate it."

One former Justice Department official said he expects Comey — who is in the fourth year of a 10-year term — to ride out the storm.

"I think he survives no matter who is elected," said former Justice legislative liaison Ron Weich, an Obama appointee who is now dean of the University of Baltimore law school. "Jim Comey was a widely-respected figure in law enforcement ... Many of us felt he made a mistake with the extent of his disclosures about the initial investigation. He felt the need to correct the record and then the need to complete the record he corrected ... I think with a little time the wound heals."

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment on Comey's political predicament, but there could be more surprises to come from the FBI after the election. It's unclear what evidence the FBI turned up on Weiner's laptop, but NBC reported the messages involving Clinton were all duplicates or not related to government business.

While Comey's Sunday letter may have lessened the political impact of his earlier disclosure about new evidence in the Clinton email case, the FBI chief did not say the investigation was being shut down. He ruled out prosecution only of Clinton and did not offer the same assurance about Abedin or any other officials whose conduct was examined in the first round of the FBI probe.

A lawyer for Abedin declined to comment Sunday on the wording of Comey's latest letter. However, a person close to Abedin said the development was good news.

"Obviously, she welcomes this result," said the source, who asked not to be named.

Comey also faces the possibility of an internal Justice Department probe into the handling of the email investigation and his disclosures to Congress. Grassley has asked the Justice Department's inspector general to look into those questions, while anti-corruption group Campaign for Accountability has urged the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility to probe Comey's disclosures as well as a series of leaks about Clinton-related investigations.

Some Comey critics believe a reckoning is inevitable.

"I think the current situation is untenable," Miller said Sunday. "You cannot have an FBI director who believes he can violate the rules and believe he's accountable to no one. Either he looks at the way he handled the case since back in July and admits he made mistakes and says he's learned from them, the next AG reins him in saying he or she will be more closely supervising him, or the third thing that could happen is he leaves....There's no putting the toothpaste back in the tube."