Oh, Brother (Update)

This just beggars belief:

Calling it "one of the world's most painful decisions," FBI Director James Comey says he believes he made "the right choice" when he notified Congress in October that the Bureau found Clinton emails on Anthony Weiner's laptop. Comey told Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein that he told his agents in October he "can't consider for a second" the implications of telling Congress of the new emails. He claimed he had to make the notification without regard to the election because taking into account what could happen in any case would destroy the mission of the FBI.

Comey says he was immediately stuck between two choices, speaking or concealing. He claimed that not notifying Congress in his mind was "concealment." Therefore, he said, he had no choice but to inform Congress.

If you'll recall, Comey made his announcement before they had access to the e-mails and before they had any idea of the content.

And a week later he popped up and said "Never mind."

As Sen. Feinstein pointed out:

Senator Feinstein Wednesday told Director Comey he could have easily notified Congress in a classified setting, thereby not making information public – and not affecting the outcome of the election.

But of course, that would have negated the whole purpose.

There's video at the link, if you can stand it.

Update: Digby has a long and very thorough analysis of the whole thing, including the press' role. Read it.