Back in early October 2016, about a month before the presidential election, U.S. intelligence officials were about to release a statement on what appeared to be a concerted Russian effort to interfere in the American democratic process. But FBI Director James Comey, in an email to James Clapper, the director for national intelligence, and John Brennan, the director of the CIA, counseled against it.

“I think the window has closed on the opportunity for an official statement, with 4 weeks until a presidential election,” Comey wrote. “I think the marginal incremental disruption/inoculation impact of the statement would be hugely outweighed by the damage to the [intelligence community’s] reputation for independence.”

Thanks to media reports, he explained, most Americans were already aware of Moscow’s meddling.

“Our ‘confirming’ it (1) adds little to the public mix, (2) begs difficult questions about both how we know that and what we are going to do about it, and (3) exposes us to serious accusations of launching our own ‘October surprise,’” he wrote. “That last bit is utterly untrue, but a reality in our poisonous atmosphere.”

Three weeks later, Comey informed Congress that the FBI had reopened the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. His brazen and unnecessary move may have tipped the election in Donald Trump’s favor.