"Mic drop" — Internet reacts to Hillary Clinton saying Kamala Harris does not have "Jim Comey in the wings waiting to kneecap her"
In a new interview with CNN on October 24, Hillary Clinton revisited her loss to her opponent, Donald Trump, during the 2016 presidential election. Journalist Kaitlan Collins asked the former US Secretary of State what Democratic candidate Kamala Harris needed to do to ensure a win in this election.
Clinton jestingly replied that Harris did not have Jim Comey to "kneecap her" before adding that the US Vice President was doing everything right with her ideas and policies.
“I don’t think she has Jim Comey in the wings waiting to kneecap her, so that’s good, and I’m very grateful for that. But I think she is doing what she needs to do. And in reporting from today, I think by CNN, a number of the voters who were at your town hall have said she convinced them that she had shown the kind of empathy and concern about their problems that she come forward with her ideas, her suggested policies,” she said.
For the unversed, Jim Comey is the former director of the FBI who revisited the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails just 11 days before the 2016 election. In a 2017 interview with TODAY, Clinton claimed this was "the determining factor" that cost her the election.
Hillary Clinton's joke about Jim Comey went viral on social media. Many supported the former Secretary of State's answer, with one person tweeting:
"Mic drop."
Others agreed with the sentiment, adding they would never forgive Comey for the untimely investigation.
"Never, will I ever, forgive Comey for that!" one person tweeted.
"So True! Never forget James Comey admitted he had a role in Hillary losing!" another person added.
"If it weren't for Comey, we wouldn't be living through the nightmare that is Trump," someone else wrote.
"True, absolutely true. Clinton took a three-point hit the week before the election because James Comey wanted to be a f**king boy scout," another user commented.
Several people lauded Hillary Clinton for her qualities, lamenting that they missed out on her "competent leadership."
"Comey deserves far worse than that slap but good for Clinton! BTW, I wonder where we are as a society with her as president instead of Trump. Think about 8 years of competent leadership…we have that choice again," one person wrote.
"This woman is measured, intelligent, absolutely one of the most qualified to ever run for office. Man, we could have had it so good," another person added.
"She is one of the most brilliant people in the political arena. We were stupid for not electing her when we had the chance," someone else tweeted.
Hillary Clinton's email controversy explored
Hillary Clinton's emails became a source of controversy during the 2016 presidential election. Clinton used a private server account instead of the standard state.gov email account during her time as the Secretary of State between 2009 and 2013.
This news first broke in March 2015 in the New York Times. When asked about the issue, Hillary Clinton claimed she used her private server for personal and work affairs for "convenience" as she didn't like having multiple devices with her. According to the BBC, the government-issued Blackberry could only log in to one email account at a time.
Hillary Clinton reportedly sent or received 62320 emails during her four-year tenure. She turned over all her work emails to the State Department and signed an affidavit stating the same in 2015. However, the FBI found "several thousand" work emails not turned in to the State Department, adding that several emails were unintentionally deleted before 2014.
In July 2016, the case was closed, with the FBI stating they would not press criminal charges against Hillary Clinton. However, on October 28, then-FBI director Jim Comey wrote to Congress that the FBI had "learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation.”
The investigation in question was into former Congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Clinton's aide Huma Abedin. Weiner was suspected of sending explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl.
On November 6, Comey wrote another letter to Congress, adding that their original conclusion about the emails made in July still stands and they would not be looking into persecuting Clinton.
Hillary Clinton credited Comey's letter, dubbed the "October surprise," as the event that stopped her momentum and cost her the election.