WATCH: Video of FBI Director James Comey Announcing He Won’t Recommend Charges Against Hillary

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FBI Director James Comey, here at the White House, is a former Bush official and Republican donor but has a reputation for independence he pledged to maintain in this case. Getty

FBI Director James Comey has confirmed what was reported by sources for days: The FBI is recommending that Hillary Clinton NOT be criminal charged in the controversy over her emails.

Clinton was under investigation into whether she used a private server for classified information. Comey’s announcement had been rumored for days, with Donald Trump Tweeting a few days ago that he had heard Clinton would not be charged. The Justice Department has the final say.

Watch Comey’s full Tuesday press conference here:

You can also read Comey’s statement in full here and through the FBI’s website. Although he announced that the FBI is not recommending charges against Hillary Clinton, Comey did say:

Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.

For example, seven e-mail chains concern matters that were classified at the Top Secret/Special Access Program level when they were sent and received. These chains involved Secretary Clinton both sending e-mails about those matters and receiving e-mails from others about the same matters. There is evidence to support a conclusion that any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton’s position, or in the position of those government employees with whom she was corresponding about these matters, should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation. In addition to this highly sensitive information, we also found information that was properly classified as Secret by the U.S. Intelligence Community at the time it was discussed on e-mail (that is, excluding the later “up-classified” e-mails).

Although expected, the announcement is good news for Hillary Clinton as the Republican and Democratic political conventions loom. For months, Republicans and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump have criticized Clinton over the emails, with Trump even labeling her “Crooked Hillary.”