Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said Friday that FBI Director James Comey’s decision to send a letter notifying Congress that he had reopened the investigation into former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server just days before the election is “probably the lowest moment” in the department’s history next to its decision to wiretap Martin Luther King Jr.
Clinton said Tuesday that she takes responsibility for losing the 2016 election — but then pointed to Comey one of the reasons for her loss.
On Wednesday, Comey testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that not informing them of his decision to reopen the investigation would have required an “act of concealment.”
During an interview on CNN, host Alisyn Camerota asked Kaine, who was Clinton’s running mate, if he agreed with Clinton, who "seemed to hang the loss at the feet of Director James Comey."
Comey’s testimony “made something really plain,” Kaine said. "There were two rules that the FBI follows with respect to elections. They don't talk about ongoing investigations, and they don't put out controversial material on the eve of [an] election."
Pressed by Camerota on whether the investigation could be considered an extraordinary circumstance, Kaine maintained that he thinks “the rules are there for a reason.”
“Director Comey made the decision himself to break both of those rules with respect to the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails,” Kaine said. “And he made a decision to follow the rules and keep silent about the investigation into the Trump campaign's connections with a Russian effort to destabilize the American electoral process.”
Camerota asked Kaine if he sees Comey's letter as the "biggest factor" in Clinton’s loss.
"I didn't say that," Kaine said. "I'm just saying Director Comey testified this week, and he made it very plain that he broke the FBI rules with respect to the Clinton campaign, and he chose not to break the rules with respect to the Trump campaign. And that was a factor, there are many factors."
Kaine said Comey’s letter "will go down as probably the lowest moment in the history of the FBI, probably next to the decision of J. Edgar Hoover to wiretap Martin Luther King.”
“It was unfortunate," Kaine said, adding that after the election, “we're all now in our places with jobs to do.”
(H/T: Washington Free Beacon)
