After consulting with Baker and other close aides, Comey called Attorney General Lynch on the morning of July 5, 2016, and said he had decided to announce, on his own, the results of the bureau’s yearlong investigation of Clinton’s use of a private email server. When Lynch asked Comey what he planned to say, Comey declined to tell her. The announcement was an unprecedented step by an FBI director, who usually left prosecution decisions to Justice Department officials.
