thought Mr. Comey's letters to Congress and/or statements concerning the reopening of the Clinton investigation might improperly have an influence on the outcome of the 2016 election?
A It's my understanding that -- it was my feeling at the time he had violated both the norms of our campaigns and Justice Department policy by disclosing or announcing or taking those kinds of investigative steps within 2 weeks of Election Day.
Q And one of the reasons those norms were in place or you thought his actions were improper, is that there was at least the very high potential for those actions to influence the 2016 election. Isn't that right?
A Yes, it is.
Q So by deciding what you were going to do in response once the, as you said, the rule book had been thrown out the window, was it also your purpose or intent to counterbalance Mr. Comey's actions by potentially influencing the outcome of the election?
A Well, I guess I would put it a little differently. So, I mean, the first thing that happened when this FBI stuff came out was that we were totally shocked. And Chris was concerned that something was happening at the FBI that we didn't understand, and that there may be some political maneuvering or improper influence. And, so, we were very concerned that the information that we had about the Russians trying to interfere in the election was going to be covered up. And this was some really bad stuff. We were now in late October, and it was clear that there was a massive attack on our election system by the Kremlin. And that it was, you know, a crisis, and that, you know, so we felt that this needed to be exposed.
UNCLASSIFIED, COMMITTEE SENSITIVE
