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Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 07:21 PM

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OPED: Former FBI Director Comey Tried To Pull Fast One On American People

Former FBI Director James Comey is taking criticism for changing the language between an early draft and the final copy of his statement on ending the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

Newly reported memos show Comey originally accused the former secretary of state of being “grossly negligent” in handling classified information in a draft dated May 2, 2016. But that was modified to claim that Clinton had been “extremely careless” in a draft dated June 10, 2016.

Federal law states that gross negligence in handling the nation’s intelligence can be punished criminally with prison time or fines, according to The Hill.

On "Fox & Friends," Judge Andrew Napolitano said “grossly negligent” and “extremely careless” have the same meaning.

"James Comey thought he could pull a fast one on the American people by using a slightly less offensive sounding term - 'extremely careless' - and thereby exonerate her," Napolitano said. "But legally, it's the same thing."

He noted that Clinton continued to use a private, unsecured email server, even though she knew that would make state secrets available for people to hack - and that they were hacked.

Napolitano said that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is seeking more details about the language modification in Comey’s decision, such as who actually went into the draft and made the red-line edits.

"Here's what's in Senator Grassley's mind and in the minds of a lot of us looking at this: Why? Why did he, if I may, fudge the standard in order to let Hillary off the hook?" Napolitano said.

He echoed a statement he made yesterday, calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to pick up where the FBI left off in the Clinton email investigation