FBI chief James Comney touted the 'independent' nature of his bureau, while saying he's 'stayed close' to the ongoing investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails.

He made these remarks yesterday at Ohio's Kenyon College, according to Politico, assuring students that the FBI would ward off any political influence due to the ongoing presidential campaign.

'I love the FBI because we aspire to, and I think we are, three things: We're honest, we're competent, we're independent,' Comey said. 'We're not perfect. We're competent, we're independent,' the director said reiterating the latter two.

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FBI Director James Comey wouldn't say too much about the ongoing FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, but did praise the bureau for its independence, competence and honesty

FBI head James Comey said that the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails would be wrapped up 'promptly,' but said he's not taking the timing of the Democratic National Convention into account

While he gave a general 'no comment' on the investigation, he also gave an explanation of what his role was.

'I've stayed close to that investigation to ensure that it's done that way,' Comey said. 'That we have the resources, the technology, the people and that there's no outside influence.'

'So, if I talk about the investigation while it's going on there's a risk that I'll compromise both the reality and the perception that it's done honestly, competently and independently,' he added.

Earlier this week, while Comey was addressing an audience in New York he said the investigation would be wrapped up 'promptly,' but would not be taking the timing of the Democratic National Convention into consideration.

A week ago, Al Jazeera America reported that the investigation has now reached a 'critical stage,' in that the bureau has finished examining her emails and homebrew server and will now be interviewing top aides, along with Clinton herself.

Among those to be interviewed: Clinton's State Department chief of staff Cheryl Mills and senior advisor Philippe Reines, Al Jazeera America said.

'Soon after those interviews – in the next few days and weeks – officials expect director Comey to make his recommendation to Attorney General Loretta Lynch about potential criminal charges,' network anchor David Shuster said.

The Justice Department and the FBI opened up their investigation in July upon receiving a security referral from the inspector general of the intelligence community, who concluded at the time that Clinton had sent emails deemed 'secret,' the highest level of classification, through her personal email system.

The inspector general's office was leafing through the 30,500 emails Clinton had turned over from her homebrew server that she said were work-related.

'None of the emails we reviewed has classification or dissemination markings, but some included [intelligence community]-derived classified information and should have been handled as classified appropriately marked, and transmitted via a secure network,' Inspector General I. Charles McCollough wrote Congress in a letter at the start of the investigation.

Previously, the inspector general and the State Department were shown to be in a dispute over whether these correspondences should be considered classified.

Since then the State Department has released the emails publicly, as part of Freedom of Information Act requests, and 22 emails were marked 'top secret,' while hundreds of others were marked 'secret' or 'confidential.'

None of the emails had markings indicating their classified nature at the time.

Clinton has used this as part of her public defense of the email scandal explaining that these emails were 'retroactively' classified.

She's complained of the government's overzealous nature in classifying the documents and called for the contents of them to come out publicly so that the stink of the scandal would subside.

Clinton had also deleted 31,830 emails from her server that she said were personal correspondence.

The Los Angeles Times found out that most of those emails have since been recovered since Clinton handed the physical server over to the FBI in August.

Legal experts suggested to the Times that it would be difficult to prosecute Clinton over her handling of classified information as prosecutors would have to prove she knew the information was classified at the time she was sending it.

While Democratic rival Sanders has shied away from criticizing Clinton for the email scandal – famously saying on the first Democratic debate stage that 'the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails' – Republicans have been chomping at the bit over it.

Throughout the campaign they've portrayed Clinton as worse than former CIA head David Petraeus, who pleaded guilty of a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified material and thus was spared prison time.

'I mean look at Petraeus – good guy, made a mistake, and by the way, leave the guy alone,' said Republican frontrunner Donald Trump in January. 'Leave Petraeus alone. Right? Enough already. Enough. They've gone after him, they've destroyed him and yet Hillary's flying safe and she did 100 times worse than what he did,'

But there's a pivotal distinction between the Petraeus case and the ongoing one swirling around Clinton.

Petraeus knowingly provided classified material to his mistress and biographer Paula Broadwell, legal experts pointed out. Broadwell was a civilian.

Clinton's emails, even the ones that were later marked classified, were sent to aides who had been cleared to receive the contents.

'Those cases are just so different from what Clinton is accused of doing,' American University law professor Stephen Vladeck told the Times. 'And the Justice Department lawyers know it.'



