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A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 4 May 2017
‘Really bad’ or ‘catastrophic’: Comey defends Clinton choice

ERIC TUCKER into account how it might
Associated Press benefit or harm politicians.
WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI “I can’t consider for a
Director James Comey told second whose political fu-
Congress Wednesday that tures will be affected and
revealing the reopening in what way,” Comey told
of the Hillary Clinton email the senators. “We have to
probe just before Election ask ourselves what is the
Day came down to a pain- right thing to do and then
ful, complicated choice do that thing.” Persistent
between “really bad” and questions from senators,
“catastrophic” options. He and Comey’s testimony,
said he’d felt “slightly nau- made clear that the FBI
seous” to think he might director’s decisions of last
have tipped the election summer and fall involving
outcome but in hindsight both the Trump and Clin-
would change nothing. “I ton campaigns continue
would make the same de- to roil national politics and
cision,” Comey declared produce lingering second-
during a lengthy hearing guessing about whether
in which Democratic sena- the investigations were
tors grilled him on the seem- handled evenly. On Tues-
ing inconsistency between FBI Director James Comey prepares to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 3, day, Clinton partly attrib-
2017, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing: “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Inves-
the Clinton disclosure 11 tigation.” uted her loss to Comey’s
days before the election (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) disclosure to Congress less
and his silence about the than two weeks before
bureau’s investigation into paign. Comey, offering an the election-year issues, in- consistent. He told the Sen- Election Day that the email
possible contacts between impassioned public de- sisted that the FBI’s actions ate Judiciary Committee investigation would be re-
Russia and Trump’s cam- fense of how he handled in both investigations were that the FBI cannot take visited. q

Shulkin says he’s considering closing 1,100 VA facilities

HOPE YEN ment is seeking to close medical care in the private and 735 that he described gress in prioritizing buildings
Associated Press perhaps more than 1,100 sector. At a House hearing as underutilized, costing the for closure and was con-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vet- VA facilities nationwide as Wednesday, Shulkin said federal government $25 sidering whether to follow
erans Affairs Secretary Da- it develops plans to allow the VA had identified more million a year. He said the a process the Pentagon
vid Shulkin says his depart- more veterans to receive than 430 vacant buildings VA would work with Con- had used in recent de-
cades to decide which of
its underused military bases
to shutter, known as Base
Realignment and Closure,
or BRAC.
“Whether BRAC is a model
that we should take a look,
we’re beginning that dis-
cussion with members of
Congress,” Shulkin told a
House appropriations sub-
committee. “We want to
stop supporting our use of
maintenance of buildings
we don’t need, and we
want to reinvest that in
buildings we know have
capital needs.”
In an internal agency doc-
ument obtained by The
Associated Press, the VA
pointed to aging buildings
it was reviewing for possible
closure that would cost mil-
lions of dollars to replace.
It noted that about 57
percent of all VA facilities
were more than 50 years
old. Of the 431 VA build-
ings it said were vacant,
most were built 90 or more
years ago, according to
agency data. The VA doc-
ument did not specify the
locations.q