More than 30 current and former state attorneys general bashed F.B.I. director James Comey for his letter on Hillary Clinton's emails. | Getty Former state AGs bash Comey, demand more info

More than 30 former state attorneys general from both parties have signed onto a letter criticizing FBI Director James Comey, the latest effort by Hillary Clinton’s campaign to shift the focus away from the bureau's latest email investigation and onto Comey's decision to notify Congress of the review, which it characterized as “unacceptable and unfair.”

"We call on him, now that he has injected himself into the electoral process, to immediately provide as much detail as possible so the American public can deal with facts rather than rank speculation and innuendo. But we should not be in this position in the first place," reads the letter signed by 36 former state attorneys general and a former Puerto Rico justice secretary, mostly Democrats, first obtained by POLITICO.


Comey has faced widespread criticism since his incendiary and opaque announcement on Friday that the bureau is investigating additional emails that may be relevant to Clinton's email case, given the potential political consequences in the final week of the country’s presidential election. Both Democrats and Republicans have called for a swift review of whatever new emails have come to light related to the investigation of Clinton’s private server, and the FBI has vowed to move with alacrity in its investigation to attempt to determine whether any of the new information might alter the Justice Department’s conclusion earlier this year not to charge Clinton or her aides.

"It is long standing Justice Department policy that employees 'must be particularly sensitive to safeguarding the Department's reputation for fairness, neutrality, and nonpartisanship,'" the letter continues. "As prosecutors, we were faced with allegations against candidates during every election. It is important not to comment on pending investigations close to an election or else risk that the normal criminal investigation process will be manipulated for political gain. Prosecutors and investigators must use great caution in even acknowledging investigations prior to their conclusion. The damage to a citizen's reputation often cannot be repaired even if that person is totally cleared by the investigation or the allegations proven to be completely groundless.

"It appears that Director Comey has made a serious mistake in allowing this unfair speculation and innuendo to exist. Each of us has great respect for both the FBI and the American political process. We call on the Director to act immediately to provide needed clarity and explanation, and to limit the unfortunate damage his actions have caused."

The letter comes a day after the Clinton campaign released a letter Sunday signed by nearly 100 former senior Justice Department officials who sharply criticized Comey, including former Attorney General Eric Holder, who left office last year.

Investigators now have a warrant to search a large cache of emails belonging to Clinton’s top aide, Huma Abedin, that were discovered during a separate federal investigation into Anthony Weiner, Abedin’s estranged husband, and his explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina. (Weiner denies committing any crime.)

The signatories on Monday's letter are:

Ron Amemiya, former attorney general of Hawaii

Francis X. Bellotti, former attorney general of Massachusetts

Steve Beshear, former attorney general of Kentucky

Jeff Bingaman, former attorney general of New Mexico

Bonnie Campbell, former attorney general of Iowa

Pam Carter, former attorney general of Indiana

Steve Clark, former attorney general of Arkansas

Walter Cohen, former attorney general of Pennsylvania

Jack Conway, former attorney general of Kentucky

Frankie Sue Del Papa, former attorney general of Nevada

Jerry Diamond, former attorney general of Vermont

John Easton, former attorney general of Vermont

Drew Edmondson, former attorney general of Oklahoma

John Farmer, former attorney general of New Jersey

Lee Fisher, former attorney general of Ohio

Doug Gansler, former attorney general of Maryland

Terry Goddard, former attorney general of Arizona

Jan Graham, former attorney general of Utah

Peter Harvey, former attorney general of New Jersey

Hubert Humphrey III, former attorney general of Minnesota

Peg Lautenschlager, former attorney general of Wisconsin

Bill Lockyer, former attorney general of California

Dave Louie, former attorney general of Hawaii

J.D. MacFarlane, former attorney general of Colorado

Patsy Madrid, former attorney general of New Mexico

Dustin McDaniel, former attorney general of Arkansas

Jeff Modisett, former attorney general of Indiana

Mike Moore, former attorney general of Mississippi

Richard Opper, former attorney general of Guam

Ed Pittman, former attorney general of Mississippi

Hector Reichard De Cardona, former secretary of justice of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

Steve Rosenthal, former attorney general of Virginia

Ken Salazar, former attorney general of Colorado

Anthony Troy, former attorney general of Virginia

Mary Sue Terry, former attorney general of Virginia

Jim Tierney, former attorney general of Maine

Grant Woods, former attorney general of Arizona