Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said James Comey's job was to do the investigation, present the evidence and maybe privately give his assessment as to whether or not to move forward on Hillary Clinton's email server case. | AP Photo Former AG Gonzales: Comey putting credibility on the line

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales laced into FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday after Comey announced that the agency would not recommend that a case be prosecuted against Hillary Clinton in the investigation into her use of a private email server as secretary of state.

"You know, surprising, I'd have to say. Of course, I have to give him the benefit of the doubt without actually looking at the evidence. But given his public statements and what's in the record, I'm a little bit surprised at the outcome," Gonzales told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."


The most surprising aspect, Gonzales added, was Comey's statement that "no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case."

"That is not his job," Gonzales said of Comey, with whom he has a checkered history.

As acting attorney general in 2004 while John Ashcroft was hospitalized, Comey testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2007 that both Gonzales, then-White House counsel and chief of staff Andrew Card, raced to Ashcroft at George Washington University Hospital to certify the legality of the National Security Agency's wiretapping program. Comey contradicted Gonzales in 2007 testimony into the investigation over the mass dismissal of U.S. attorneys, stating that the Justice Department "in my view, is run by political appointees of the president." Gonzales had said the firings came about largely due to poor performance.

Comey's job, Gonzales continued, "is to do the investigation, present the evidence and maybe privately, as a former prosecutor, give his assessment as to whether or not to move forward or not."

"To say that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case, means that if anyone dares disagree, that you're unreasonable," Gonzales said.

In the event that Attorney General Loretta Lynch were to decide she wants to move forward with the case, which Gonzales acknowledged as "unlikely," such an action would be perceived as "unreasonable."

"What does that do to Jim Comey's credibility and his judgment?" Gonzales asked. "I just think that statement was interesting. "