Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday he was shocked that FBI Director James Comey did not recommend that charges be brought against Hillary Clinton to the Justice Department in a video first posted by The Right Scoop.
"I am shocked at his conclusion for two reasons," Giuliani said. "First of all, he actually clearly concluded that she violated 18 United States Code Section 793, when he said that she was extremely negligent. That statute does not require intent; it just requires gross negligence, and gross negligence is defined by judges in their charge as extremely negligent."
"I don’t know how he could possibly avoid section 793 subsection F," Giuliani added, "which says impertinent in part, whoever being trusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document related to national defense through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody shall be fined under this title or imprisoned more than 10 years or both."
Giuliani said that Clinton had committed both violations and noted that Comey had previously worked for him as an assistant.
The former New York City mayor said that intent can be proved by circumstantial evidence, and Clinton’s destruction of over 30,000 emails was enough to prove intent.
"It is going to be almost impossible, in the future, for the FBI to justify a charge under any of these statutes, so I don’t know what Jim is doing," Giuliani said.
Giuliani also said that Comey’s conclusion was hard to defend, citing when the FBI chief said in his statement Tuesday that Clinton practiced gross negligence when handling her emails and that Section 793, subsection F makes gross negligence a crime.
Giuliani previously served in the Justice Department during the Ronald Reagan administration and as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York before becoming mayor.