Politics

Hillary’s Campaign Chairman Attacked Comey In The Morning, Outraged Over ‘Massacre’ Hours Later

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Derek Hunter Contributor
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Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta was, like many on the political left, angry with former FBI Director James Comey Tuesday morning. But his tone changed significantly only hours later when President Donald Trump fired Comey.

Just last week, Hillary Clinton partially blamed Comey for her loss in the 2016 election, so it’s not surprising her campaign chairman would also harbor bad blood. Tuesday morning, while sharing a story on the then-FBI director’s testimony the day before, Podesta commented, “The American public is getting mildly nauseous listening to Jim Comey.”

Hours later, however, once the news of Comey’s firing hit, Podesta’s tone changed.

While tweeting the New York Times story on the firing just seven hours later, Podesta said, “@realDonaldTrump Didn’t you know you’re supposed to wait til Saturday night to massacre people investigating you?”

The reference to “massacre” on Saturday night dates back to Watergate, when President Richard Nixon wanted special prosecutor Archibald Cox fired by his Attorney General, Elliot Richardson. Richardson resigned in protest, as did Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus. Finally, Solicitor General Robert Bork complied with Nixon’s order and fired Cox.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was one of the first to attempt to make the Trump-Nixon connection, implying Nixon fired the FBI Director in a tweet.

However, President Nixon did not fire the FBI Director. The only other president to fire a head of the FBI was Bill Clinton in July of 1993 over an ethical probe. At the time the Washington Post reported Clinton’s reasoning for the dismissal, which is remarkably similar to President Trump’s letter firing Comey. The Post reported, “The president told reporters afterwards that he acted after Attorney General Janet Reno ‘reported to me in no uncertain terms that he can no longer effectively lead the bureau and law enforcement community’ and that he agreed with that assessment.”