Trump Claims Comey Was the “Best Thing” to Happen to Clinton

The president accuses FBI director of giving her a “free pass.”

Andrew Harrer/CNP/ZUMA

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President Donald Trump took aim at Hillary Clinton in a pair of late-night tweets Tuesday, claiming FBI director James Comey’s decision to renew an investigation into Clinton’s emails was the “best thing” to happen to her.

Trump’s comments came just hours after Clinton pointed to Comey’s actions, along with Russia’s interference in the presidential election, for tipping the election in favor of her opponent. She also held herself accountable for the loss.

“The reason why I believe we lost were the intervening events in the last 10 days,” she said in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “If the election had been on October 27, I’d be your president.”

Comey is slated to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, where he will likely face intense questioning over his decision to announce the newly discovered emails. Just two days before the November 8 election, the FBI concluded the trove of emails did not affect its previous determination not to bring charges against Clinton over her email handling. By then, however, voters had made up their minds.

Since defeating his opponent, Trump has repeatedly re-litigated the outcome of the election, and has refused to accept he lost the popular vote. As recently as last week, Trump gave copies outlining the “final map” of the election results to Reuters reporters on hand to interview the president about his first 100 days in office—proving both Clinton and the presidential election are still very much at the forefront of his mind.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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