During the 2016 election, Comey, quite improperly, was put into the role of prosecutor, judge and jury in the investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. That proved a disaster. Comey has admitted under oath to deliberately leaking his own notes — which were likely government property — to the media to prompt the appointment of a special counsel. That ploy worked like clockwork, and by a strange coincidence it soon resulted in the selection of his friend, former FBI Director Robert Mueller.