WATCH: FBI director, House GOP face off in dramatic hearing

The head of the FBI came to Capitol Hill on Thursday morning to face off with House Republicans and defend the agency’s decision not to recommend charges against Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server while secretary of State.

GOP lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee accused FBI Director James Comey of creating a “double standard” by refusing to press charges against Clinton, calling her exceedingly irresponsible with classified information.

“We believe that you have set a precedent and it’s a dangerous one,” Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) told Comey.“If your name isn’t Clinton or you’re not part of the powerful elite, Lady Justice will act differently,” he added. “It’s a concern that Lady Justice will take off that blindfold an come to a different conclusion.”

Comey defended the decision of his “apolitical and professional” investigation.

The FBI director told the House panel that Clinton and her former aides never knew that they were mishandling classified information, leading to a conclusion that they should not face charges.

Most legal standards require people to have intentionally taken classified information out of secure spaces in order for charges to be filed against them.

Comey noted that while a law exists, passed in 1917, that allows for indictments to be handed down in cases of “gross negligence,” it’s only been used once since then, in an espionage case.

“No reasonable prosecutor would bring the second case in 100 years focused on gross negligence,” Comey said, two days after recommending the Justice Department not press charges against Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

“That’s just the way it is. I know the Department of Justice,” said Comey, a former U.S. attorney and deputy attorney general. “I know no reasonable prosecutor would bring this case.”

The legal standard of criminal intent, known as “mens rea,” prevented charges from being filed in the Clinton case, Comey told lawmakers.

“I see evidence of great carelessness,” he said. “But I do not see evidence that is sufficient to establish that Secretary Clinton or those with whom she was corresponding both talked about classified information on email and knew when they were doing it that it was against the law.”

Comey contrasted that case with the one of former CIA Director David Petraeus, who was convicted of a misdemeanor charge for handing sensitive material to his mistress and biographer.

In the Petraeus case, the former general acknowledged on tape that material he was handing over to Paula Broadwell was highly classified. He also hid some of the material in the insulation of his attic, Comey added, and then lied about it during the course of the investigation.

“That is the perfect illustration of the kind of cases that get prosecuted,” he said.

For the most part, Republicans refrained from accusing Comey of being bowed by politics to accommodate the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. The argument would have been a difficult one to make, given Republicans’ repeated praise for the FBI head in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s decision not to recommend charges.

Instead, they stuck to concerns about the “double standard” and tried to hammer Clinton on lying about virtually every aspect of her email setup.

Among other points, Clinton’s server contained three emails marked as classified, and more than 100 with information that was classified at the time it was sent. Clinton has previously claimed that nothing she received or sent through her personal server was classified and, that it was later marked as such.

Comey refused to say Thursday whether Clinton “lied” to voters and Congress.

But “we have no basis to conclude she lied to the FBI,” he said.

“She didn’t lie to the FBI but it’s apparent she lied to the American people,” retorted Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.).

Chaffetz said that lawmakers would soon be referring to the FBI Clinton’s sworn-oath testimony to Capitol Hill, suggesting that they are hoping for proof that she lied to Congress.

– Updated at 11:44 a.m.