Even these Republicans think Comey made the wrong call disclosing Clinton email probe
FBI director James Comey (Screenshot/YouTube)
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Since James Comey’s decision Friday to inject the FBI into the 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton and her supporters have blasted the director’s “unprecedented” and “deeply troubling” disclosure. But while the Clinton campaign’s indignation over Comey’s letter may seem like politics-as-usual, a surprising number of Republicans are likewise angry over the director’s move.
1. Joe Walsh
Ex-Congressman Joe Walsh is a far cry from a Clinton fan—he is, after all, the same former Republican representative who last week insisted he’s “grabbing [his] musket” if Donald Trump loses on November 9th.
But in a series of tweets Sunday, Walsh called Comey’s decision “wrong and unfair” to Clinton.
Monday, Walsh continued his Twitter rant against Comey, joining the chorus of calls for more information from the FBI director.
2. Jim Jordan
Ohio Republican Jim Jordan Monday blasted Comey for mishandling the Clinton investigation, arguing it was “probably not the right thing” for the FBI directory to do “this close to the election.”
“I think this was probably not the right thing for Comey to do, the protocol here, to come out this close to an election,” Jordan said in Kilmeade and Friends. “But this whole case has been mishandled and now it is what it is.”
Jordan noted that considering Comey hosted a July press conference where he effectively closed the case on Clinton’s emails, the FBI directory “probably did have to send a letter to Congress,” but he also argued “all of this has been wrong from the get go in the way it’s been handled.”
3. Newt Gingrich
In one of the most startling twists of the 2016 election, longtime Clinton critic Newt Gingrich said “John Pedestal and Hillary Clinton are right” in calling on the FBI director to release more information on the Clinton investigation, insisting “Americans have a right to know.”
4. Jeanine Pirro
Vocal Trump supporter Judge Jeanine Pirro Saturday blasted Comey for violating “the most fundamental rules of fairness and impartiality.”
“One of the most revered agencies in our nation’s history—now seen as putting its finger on the scales of justice—should not now be front and center,” Pirro said Saturday on her Fox News show Justice. ”You know I support Donald Trump and want him to win, but whether it’s Hillary Clinton or anyone else, Comey’s actions violate not only longstanding Justice Department policy…but the most fundamental rules of fairness and impartiality.”
Pirro even related Comey’s Clinton announcement to her own 2006 run for New York State Attorney General.
“In the home stretch of a statewide campaign, the Justice Department and the FBI violated their own policy against making public statements that could affect an election, and announced to the press they were opening an investigation of me,” Pirro said.
“It was mean-spirited and nothing came of it, except the adverse publicity cost me at the polls.”
5. William Weld
Former Republican Mass. governor William Weld, who is currently running as the Libertarian vice presidential candidate, called Comey’s decision to disclose to the probe to Congress “disgraceful.”
“I think it’s disgraceful. Ten days to go — I think it’s disgraceful,” Weld said on New Day Monday.
“I do not have my candidate hat on here,” Weld continued. “I have on my former Justice Department hat — honest. And I’m outraged by what’s going on here, because it’s such a violation of Justice Department policies, procedures, whatever.”
“They’re playing hit and run,” he added.. “There’s no way for Mrs. Clinton to know what the evidentiary basis is on which they made this update to their investigation, and they’ve said themselves they don’t know.”
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