Corey Lewandowski Says FBI’s Decision to Reexamine Email Case Helped Deliver Trump Victory

“With eleven days to go, something amazing happened.”

Oxford Union/Rex Shutterstock/ZUMA

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Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski credited the FBI director’s decision to notify Congress that it was reviewing newly discovered emails related to Hillary Clinton as a key turning point in the election that helped deliver Trump’s surprise victory last week.

“What that did was remind people that there are two different rules in Washington—those of the elites, the privileged, and those for everybody else,” Lewandowski said during a speech at the Oxford Union debating society on Wednesday. “When Comey came forward with that investigation, it allowed the campaign a little spring in their step and for them to redouble their efforts.”

According to Lewandowski, the announcement to reexamine Clinton’s email use gave way to an “exceptionally disciplined” Trump. He also described the turn of events as “amazing.”

“He used a teleprompter and he did less media,” he said. “And then Donald Trump won the election campaign by the largest majority since Ronald Reagan in 1984.”

Comey has come under intense fire from both Democrats and Republicans who claim the decision may have inappropriately influenced the outcome of the election. Days after her shocking loss, Clinton told high-level donors that she believed Comey’s letter lead to her defeat.

After the disclosing the discovery of the Clinton-related emails, Comey announced that the FBI did not find anything new to change its previous conclusion not to bring charges against Clinton.

Lewandowski, who joined CNN as an analyst after he was ousted from Trump’s campaign in June, recently stepped down from the cable network and is reportedly angling for a high-level role in the incoming administration. But with reports of infighting dogging the president-elect’s transition, it remains to be seen which of Trump’s loyalists actually make it to the White House.

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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