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information by Secretary Clinton. It would also make sense he'd be assigned to the Russia investigations.

Mr. Cohen. And what was Ms. Page's reputation as an attorney and as a public servant?

Mr. Comey. Ms. Page was less well-known. She was a more junior attorney assigned to the deputy attorney -- excuse me, the deputy director, so I knew less about her. In my interactions with her, what I liked about her is she would be candid and blunt and often disruptive in a meeting, which I kind of liked. The FBI can be very hierarchal.She would tend to speak up even when, in a normal FBI meeting, it wasn't her turn, and I found that very helpful.

Mr. Cohen. The attacks that Mr. Trump has made on the FBI and the Justice Department, and particularly Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page and you and others, can you tell us how that's affected the morale of the FBI?

Mr. Comey. It's hard for me to give you a high-confidence answer because I'm not there any longer, so I'll give you my sense, which I think is right but I don't have high confidence in it, is that it has hurt morale in some senses, and in other senses, has redoubled the commitment of the people of the FBI to its mission and its apolitical nature. So I think it's actually a tale of two cities in that way.

Mr. Cohen. When you were at the FBI, did you have any reason to investigate the people who propagated stories that Seth Rich