FBI Director James Comey announced the bureau will not recommend the Department of Justice charge Hillary Clinton for having a private server during her tenure as Secretary of State. After explaining the lengths FBI agents went to investigate Clinton and her server Comey said no criminal charges should be brought.



However, he notes that simply because Clinton's actions were not criminal, does not mean that "a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences."



"To the contrary," he said. "Those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now."







FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY: To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now.



As a result, although the Department of Justice makes final decisions on matters like this, we are expressing to Justice our view that no charges are appropriate in this case.



I know there will be intense public debate in the wake of this recommendation, as there was throughout this investigation. What I can assure the American people is that this investigation was done competently, honestly, and independently. No outside influence of any kind was brought to bear.



I know there were many opinions expressed by people who were not part of the investigation—including people in government—but none of that mattered to us. Opinions are irrelevant, and they were all uninformed by insight into our investigation, because we did the investigation the right way. Only facts matter, and the FBI found them here in an entirely apolitical and professional way. I couldn’t be prouder to be part of this organization.