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Clinton: Comey 'Should Have Been Disciplined' for How He Handled My Email Investigation

September 13, 2017

Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Wednesday on NBC's "Today" that former FBI Director James Comey should have been "disciplined" for how he handled the investigation into her private email server.

Host Matt Lauer asked Clinton what her immediate reaction was when President Donald Trump fired Comey in May.

"When you heard the news that James Comey had been fired by President Trump, what was your immediate reaction?" Lauer asked.

"He was fired for the wrong reason," Clinton responded.

Lauer followed up and asked if Clinton thought Comey should have been fired.

"He should not have been fired for Russia," Clinton said. "He should have been disciplined—whether or not fired, that's not for me to say. But he should have been disciplined for the way that he behaved on the email investigation, and in fact, the deputy attorney general, backed by the attorney general of this administration, laid out in excruciating detail all of the protocols and rules that he broke."

Clinton added that she felt "sick" when Comey said in a congressional hearing that the thought of him having an impact on the 2016 election made him "mildly nauseous."

"It made me sick to hear that because of course he did," Clinton said.

Clinton said that she believes she would have defeated Trump had Comey not reopened the FBI's probe into her emails 11 days before the election.

"Look, absent that, and I believe the evidence shows, I would have won," Clinton said. "Were this headwinds? Yes. Were there lots of other issues and this whole interference by Russia is still an issue? Absolutely. But the role that he played historically was determinative."