Fmr. Asst. Director: FBI’s Job to Protect People, ‘Not the Political System’

Former FBI Assistant Director James Kallstrom praised Director James Comey for reopening the bureau’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state, saying there is no “time stamp on crime” in an interview Monday on “The Laura Ingraham show.”

Comey, who has come under severe fire from both the Clinton campaign and congressional Democrats for his bombshell announcement Friday, was “between a rock and a hard place” with pressure coming from all sides, Kallstrom said. The former assistant director said the FBI’s initial “sham” investigation into Clinton’s emails was a “shallow, hollow investigation” — one that the newly reopened inquiry could be an attempt to correct.

“It has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with the rule of law and due processes and what’s right and what’s wrong in this country. And my god, we can’t suffer any more of this stuff.”

Kallstrom said that Comey had a “weak moment” when he made the decision in July not to recommend a criminal prosecution of Clinton.

“He just wasn’t strong enough at that point to fight this thing, stand up and resign, or do the right thing,” Kallstrom told LifeZette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham. “But now, you know, he’s compensating for that, I guess — publicly. And there’s a lot of criticism on that also, which I can understand.”

Democrats, many who had praised the FBI director just days before, began piling on Comey and accusing him of “politicizing” the FBI almost immediately after the news broke the law enforcement agency would be reopening the Clinton probe.

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“You know, they brought all this on themselves, the Democrats, you know, by electing someone they knew was a crook … So who are they to be yelling and screaming about this thing?” Kallstrom said. “The Democrats know what they have here. They know what they’ve got, who they’ve picked to run for president. Shame on them.”

Ingraham agreed, adding, “I think when they really think about this — if they ever do through an objective lens — they would come to the conclusion that it was always going to be a precarious path with the Clintons. They’re always followed by scandal, create ethical problems — it’s sex and it’s money that always follows the Clintons around.”

Kallstrom told Ingraham that the new emails the FBI discovered on a laptop during a separate investigation into top Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s disgraced husband, former Rep. Anthony Weiner, must contain truly “shocking” evidence for Clinton’s case to be reopened.

“Laura, I think when the actual evidence comes out on this, it’s going to be shocking. That’s my feeling. I think it’s really something different than what we’ve heard before. And, you know, with Anthony Weiner, you know it could get pretty weird,” Kallstrom said.

“[Comey] felt an obligation to notify the Congress,” Kallstrom said, adding, “He’s under tremendous pressure from the agents.”

“And that’s why the agents are so furious. They’re just totally furious. It’s not the agents’ fault here,” Kallstrom said. “You know, it’s the people that run the organization, you know. And that’s throughout government.”

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Kallstrom argued that a precedent does exists for the FBI to reopen its case investigating Clinton — despite what the Democrats and the Clinton camp may argue.

“There’s no time stamp on crime, unless there’s laws that say after five years or 10 years — but absolutely. When evidence comes to the FBI — even if they made a decision not to do this, or not to do that, or not to recommend a referral — of course they’re going to act on that,” Kallstrom said. “The FBI is there to protect the American people — not to protect the political system.”

“It has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with the rule of law and due processes and what’s right and what’s wrong in this country. And my God, we can’t suffer any more of this stuff,” Kallstrom concluded. “Our society, our culture’s already been beaten down to a pulp. And the American people have to have a respect for the law and the rule of law and the fact that everyone deserves due process.”