May 3, 2017

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.

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