Every garden has plants that would benefit from pruning, but only if it is done competently.
He sought to assure the American people that "this investigation was done competently, honestly, and independently".
What I can assure the American people is that this investigation was done competently, honestly, and independently.
First, the inspector general's team went through the F.B.I.'s work with a microscope and found no evidence that bias or improper motivation affected the investigation, which I know was done competently, honestly and independently.
"The issue with the regional planning board is not the planning, which is done competently," said Matthew T. Crosson, the president of the Long Island Association, the largest business organization in Nassau and Suffolk.
Comey ended his remarks by acknowledging his awareness that the F.B.I.'s decision would spark "intense public debate". He sought to assure the American people that "this investigation was done competently, honestly, and independently". Although many people inside and outside of government had expressed opinions about the investigation, "none of that mattered to us," he said.
His position remains that the pre-merger was done competently, that subsequent economic problems couldn't have been predicted, that the £560m loan impairments on the Britannia side were not, on their own, enough to bring down Co-op bank, and only a fraction of those impairments have led to actual losses.
He said he wanted to reassure the public that the investigation was done "competently, honestly and independently" and that "no outside influence of any kind was brought to bear".
