Criticized by candidates, Comey has tense days ahead after the election

Depending on who wins the election, Mr. Comey will either work for a man who accused him of being part of a rigged criminal justice system or a woman who has criticized his decisions as “deeply troubling” and whose surrogates accused him of committing a stunning violation of longstanding principles of fairness.

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Friends and colleagues say that, despite a controversy that has entangled the F.B.I. in presidential politics, Mr. Comey feels no pressure to leave office and has no plans to do so. But, as one colleague recalled Mr. Comey saying recently, “It’s going to be awkward.”

Things will be particularly awkward if Hillary Clinton wins, those close to her and to Mr. Comey acknowledge. His decision, in the campaign’s final days, to make public an F.B.I. inquiry into emails belonging to one of Mrs. Clinton’s aides renewed a controversy that she thought she had put behind her. He left her little time to resolve it, and provided little more than a vaguely written letter for her to rebut…

“The political cost of firing him is greater than the political cost of keeping him,” said James M. Cole, who recently served as deputy attorney general and who signed a Clinton campaign letter criticizing Mr. Comey.

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