A new report from the Washington Post blames the Russians for fooling then-FBI Director James Comey into distrusting the Department of Justice, and making the announcement that many think sunk Hillary Clinton's presidential hopes.
According to the report, the FBI received faulty intelligence planted by the Russians that further eroded Comey's confidence in the Department of Justice's ability to be objective and disinterested in relation to the Obama administration.
The secret document, which purported to be a piece of Russian intelligence, claimed that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch had privately assured someone in the Clinton campaign that the investigation into Clinton’s handling of classified information would go nowhere.
Sources told the Washington Post that the FBI determined the intelligence to be fake, but only after it persuaded Comey that the Department of Justice could not be trusted, and forced his hand to speak publicly about the investigation.
“It was a very powerful factor in the decision to go forward in July with the statement that there shouldn’t be a prosecution,” a source told the Washington Post. “The point is that the bureau picked up hacked material that hadn’t been dumped by the bad guys involving Lynch. And that would have pulled the rug out of any authoritative announcement.”
Comey has already said under oath that Attorney General Lynch's "tarmac meeting" with former President Bill Clinton was one of the reasons he felt the Department of Justice couldn't be trusted. This additional report provides yet another reason, despite it being false, of why he made the announcement that helped doom Hillary Clinton.
The story is yet another leak that is based on anonymous sources, a journalistic method that has been criticized by President Donald Trump and his supporters.
Dispirited Democrats took to social media to express their shock that the Russians might have been behind yet another attack on Hillary Clinton's presidential hopes.
Can hearts break twice? Yes. @HillaryClinton won. https://t.co/MOQPl8iOIK
— Beverlee Hughes (@BeverleeHughes3) May 24, 2017
@BeverleeHughes3 @HillaryClinton We should demand a new election. This one was clearly hijacked.
— Jay ~ CWS Time! (@JustAHuskerGal) May 24, 2017
@BeverleeHughes3 @HillaryClinton Russia didn't "interfere" in our election they literally controlled it. We deserve a new election
— (((Jackie))) (@JJFan18) May 25, 2017
@BeverleeHughes3 @retrosher @HillaryClinton He bought into the GOP agenda and became an unwitting accomplice to the crime. Wow. Cheating is not winning
— Allison Kaye (@AllisonKaye14) May 25, 2017
If there ever was a Constitutional crisis big enough to justify a do-over election, it is this one.
— Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) May 24, 2017
@samswey Remember Giuliani being as giddy as a toddler at Christmas bragging on FOX-PRAVDA that info would drop on Clinton? Campaign knew about this
— Jane Reed (@kaslina) May 24, 2017
