FBI contradicting Clinton campaign trail comments

'The O'Reilly Factor' examines the impact of Comey's recommendation on the presidential race

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," July 6, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching us tonight. The talking points memo on why President Obama is sympathetic to Islam will be in our third segment tonight.

First, the lead story. How badly has Hillary Clinton been damaged by the FBI's investigation? The Factor staff put together a series of statements made by Secretary Clinton and then refuted yesterday by FBI Director James Comey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I did not e-mail any classified materials to anyone on my e-mail. There is no classified e-mail.

COMEY: From the group of 30,000 e-mails returned to the State Department in 2014, 110 e-mails in 52 e-mail chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received.

CLINTON: I responded right away and provided all my e-mails that could possibly be work related.

COMEY: The FBI also discovered several thousand work-related e-mails that were not among the group of 30,000 e-mails returned by Secretary Clinton to state in 2014.

CLINTON: I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal e-mails instead of two.

COMEY: Secretary Clinton used several different servers, and administrators of those servers during her four years at the State Department. And she also used numerous multiple devices to send and to read e-mails on that personal domain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: So it is clear beyond any doubt from the FBI's investigation that Secretary Clinton attempted to mislead the public. Now, intent comes into play here, as well. Is Mrs. Clinton's memory faulty or dis she intentionally wants to deceive us? If the latter question proves to be true, her presidential chances may vanish. Talking points believes there is more to come on this story, as FBI Director James Comey will testify in front of the House Committee tomorrow morning. And Mrs. Clinton's misleading public statements should be among the lead questions.

With us now here in New York City, Bret Stephens, columnist of the Wall Street Journal. So what I'm trying to get at here is that if -- you would admit that montage put together is embarrassing, right?

BRET STEPHENS, WALL STREET JOURNAL DEPUTY EDITORIAL, PAGE EDITOR: It's devastating.

O'REILLY: Nobody can defend it, right?

STEPHENS: Least of all Mrs. Clinton.

O'REILLY: Okay. Nobody can spin it, nobody can say it didn't happen. I mean, the congressman lied and we'll show you the congressman who lied in a minute. But it's beyond a reasonable doubt any fair minded person would say, this woman is a deceiver and now she wants to be president. So I'm saying does it matter?

STEPHENS: I think in any normal political season this would destroy her candidacy. I mean, back in the 1990s, Bill Sapphire, the late "New York Times" columnist, called Mrs. Clinton a congenital liar. And what you just showed on your montage, demonstrates what was true two decades ago remains true today. Even the fact that FBI Director Comey decided not to indict, the evidence that he laid out shows that she's been telling untruth consistently for at least 15 months since March of --

O'REILLY: Yes. In the biggest case of the presidential campaign so far.

STEPHENS: But it's not a normal political season.

O'REILLY: Okay. It isn't, because you have Donald Trump, who is a very polarizing man. But I'm saying to myself, it's going to be harder for people who weren't that enthusiastic about Mrs. Clinton but didn't like Trump, it's going to be harder for them now to still pull that lever for her.

STEPHENS: But look, this place ought to play into Trump's sweet spot. The belief, the view, his view that the system is rigged. There is a system for everyone, and then there is a Clinton exception when it comes to this kind of behavior, what do they call, extreme carelessness as opposed to gross negligence. So that should play into his wheel house. Except that in a week when he should be gaining strength from this report, what is he doing? He's talking about Saddam Hussein as being terrific when it came to the war on terror.

O'REILLY: Yes. I think he's a little bit more focused, he was last night, but then last night in his North Carolina speech, he accused Comey of, you know, he's got to stay in the factual zone and not, you know, blow it out so that he can be an object of derision. Now, Comey himself, "The Wall Street Journal" today has a good editorial about his decision, but people still aren't -- establishment people still want to say he's corrupt. Trump says he's corrupt, but you don't he is corrupt, do you?

STEPHENS: Look, in 2013 when he was made FBI director, he ran an editorial called the political Mr. Comey. Mr. Comey is terrific when it comes to prosecuting Martha Stewart, when it comes to prosecuting bankers like Frank Qatron (ph), prosecuting unpopular people, doing what the Washington Beltway thinks is the right thing to do. Very different story when going against not only the presumptive Democratic nominee but the presumptive Democratic nominee who is going to save the world from Donald Trump. So this decision was totally predictable for anyone --

O'REILLY: So you believe that Comey set aside -- this is what you're saying, Mr. Stephens, I want to be very clear, set aside his sworn duty to uphold the law because he felt that politics, if he brought charges, would influence him?

STEPHENS: The evidence that he produced is directly contradictory --

O'REILLY: We've established that. But why did he do it? Are you saying that he puts politics over honesty?

STEPHENS: I'm saying he puts politics first.

O'REILLY: You are?

STEPHENS: Yes.

O'REILLY: You're saying that James Comey, the director of the FBI, puts politics over what is honest in the criminal justice system?

STEPHENS: This was a purely political decision by an FBI director who should not have been recommending in anyway what prosecutors should do in terms of Mrs. Clinton's case.

O'REILLY: Okay. Now, if that's true, and I don't know that it is, that is your opinion, right?

STEPHENS: It is my opinion.

O'REILLY: Okay. But you look a little and forgive me, smug on the opinion, you look like you are 100 percent convinced that what you just said that Comey puts politics over what's best for the country and what's right in the criminal justice arena, you look like you're 100 percent convinced of that.

STEPHENS: I'm only 95 percent convinced of anything I say, but this is my best judgment. But knowing, if you followed Jim Comey's career over many years, especially when he was going after people like John Ashcroft in the first Bush administration, his record as a prosecutor, the witch-hunt against Scooter Libby, Jim Comey is very good at going after targets who are already objects of hatred and derision among the liberal establishment in Washington.

So when we wrote that editorial three years ago, just listing his record, we were relative loners. People were applauding Jim Comey as a straight shooter. This decision comes as absolutely no surprise that he would not take on a target as politically significant and as favored by so much in Washington as Mrs. Clinton. And I say that as someone who is no fan of the other guy.

O'REILLY: Yes. You no fan of Donald Trump. But if what you're saying is true, then this country is in serious trouble, because we don't have equal justice for all, do we?

STEPHENS: No. Look, we become a country, politics is the first refuge for Scoundrel.

O'REILLY: All right. Bret Stephens, everyone. Thank you very much for your candor.

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