Washington (CNN) Describing his decision as the best of two bad choices, former FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday that informing the public about the status of the Hillary Clinton investigation was better than the "catastrophic" option of keeping it secret ahead of the 2016 election.

"So as between bad and catastrophic, no matter where the polls are, you're going to have to always choose bad, and know you're going to get hammered for it, but know you had two choices and you chose the least bad," Comey said at a CNN town hall.

As FBI director, Comey made the decision shortly before the election to tell Congress the bureau was re-opening its probe into the Democratic nominee's email practices as secretary of state, and on Wednesday acknowledged the criticism he continues to hear on that choice.

"It appears to a lot of folks, 'you treated the Hillary Clinton case different than the Russia case,'" Comey said.

Comey said it is "important to realize" that the Clinton investigation began via a public referral to the FBI, whereas the investigation into potential coordination between President Donald Trump's associates began as a small counterintelligence probe that did not include Trump.

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