Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid had harsh words for FBI Director James Comey in a recent interview with MSNBC’s Joy Reid. Senator Reid has been accusing Russia of interference in the 2016 presidential election for months. Now that CIA officials have announced they have reason to believe Russians may have tried to affect the U.S. election, Reid says Comey is culpable.
“The FBI had this material for a long time,” Reid said, calling out the agency for not revealing the potential interference before Nov. 8. “Everyone knows Wikileaks was involved from the very beginning. They leaked the information as if it was released by one of the great political operatives in America, when in fact it was run out of the clique offices in Russia. Russia has a pretty good way of cheating.”
Reid called Comey a “new J. Edgar Hoover,” in reference to the infamous 20th century FBI director who is said to have abused his longtime position in power. He said that, like Hoover, Comey has “let the country down for partisan purposes.” Though Comey testified to Congress that he was no longer a registered Republican, he was previously a member of the party for the majority of his adult life.
When asked point-blank if he believes Comey “deliberately withheld this information from the American people before the election,” Reid told MSNBC “That is correct.”
Reid said that Comey should resign, though admitted that was unlikely.
“I think he should be investigated by the Senate. I think he should be investigated by other agencies of the government, including the security agencies. Because if there were ever a matter of security, it’s this... I don’t think any of us understood how partisan Comey was.”
Comey has also been accused of personally sabotaging the election in Trump’s favor. Some believe his claim that new emails possibly revealed criminal wrongdoing related to Clinton’s private email server, merely 10 days before the election, had a negative impact on the Clinton campaign. Even Clinton herself has blamed Comey for her loss.
In the MSNBC interview, Reid also praised South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham for being one of the only Republican leaders to voice concern over Russia’s potential involvement, though Graham said he isn’t challenging the outcome of the election.
Reid expressed hope that Graham would get involved and encourage other leaders to investigate the issue.
