Sen. Dianne Feinstein didn't buy any of FBI Director James Comey's ridiculous explanations on why he broke DOJ protocols and sent his "October surprise" letter to Congress about investigating emails on Huma Abedin's laptop which likely turned the general election to Donald Trump.
Feinstein told Meet The Press's Andrea Mitchell, "I disagree with him. I think you look before you leap."
Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he is "mildly nauseous" at the thought his decision played a role in the 2016 presidential election, but claimed he only had two choices and if he didn't make the one he did, the results would have been "catastrophic" to the agency.
Not even conservatives like Judge Andrew Napolitano and Judge Jeanine Pirro bought that malarkey,both believing Comey disgraced and politicized the FBI with his actions.
Meet The Press guest host Andrea Mitchell asked, "He said he was mildly nauseous at thinking that he had impacted the election but thought he had no choice. You disagree."
Feinstein, a member on the committee, replied, "I disagree with him. I think you look before you leap."
She continued, "The FBI has a policy of not announcing October surprises. This was eleven days before the election. What he could have done is said, ‘Let’s just be sure. Let’s get a search warrant. Let’s look at the Weiner computer and let’s see what there is.’"
Because of Comey's reckless actions, which included giving an unprecedented press conference in July to announce the FBI's conclusion that no charges against Clinton were being recommended, the FBI is now more distrusted than ever.
Sen. Feinstein continued, "So what he did was authorize what I believe to be a needless investigation eleven days, which I have no doubt, and I believe that the Clinton campaign's polls show this, that it made a big difference. And the FBI should not do that. So I don't understand the march to do this immediately when he could have gotten the search warrant first."
Nate Silver and Five Thirty Eight also said the Comey Letter turned the election to Trump and asked, "why won’t the media admit as much?"
It wasn't only Clinton's pollster that said Comey's letter swung the election to Donald. Trump's own pollste,r Tony Fabrizio, verified that as well.
In the final week after FBI director James Comey released a vague letter saying that the agency was examining new emails found on Anthony Weiner’s computer, the husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin, [Clinton consultant Joel] Benenson said that Clinton’s defectors just didn’t come back.
“Ours were coming back after the third debate,” Benenson said of the Clinton defectors. “We had actually solidified our lead for a period of days after that debate. Comey happens on that Friday, eleven days out, and that’s when we see—our defectors leave, their defectors get loyal and that keeps moving and probably in the end tips the balance.”
Fabrizio completely agreed with him, saying if one didn’t understand the polling fluctuations, “you’d think the bottom fell out.”
The groups Fabrizio was tracking, specifically “Trump targets”—a cohort which they consistently tried to sway from supporting Johnson and/or Clinton—drastically decreased in the final week after the Comey letter. They all essentially came home.
Clinton didn't run the perfect campaign, but there is no denying the effect Comey's letter played in the general election.
