Yahoo News Hillary Clinton mocks James Comey after former FBI chief who torpedoed her campaign wears 'elect women' T-shirt
Hilary Clinton has mocked James Comey over the former FBI chief’s decision to wear a T-shirt calling for more women to be elected to political office.
Mr Comey on Tuesday posted to social media a picture of himself wearing the garment, which read “elect more women”, in an apparent nod to Joe Biden choosing California senator, Kamala Harris, as his vice-presidential candidate.
Comey’s post also included a message celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1920 passaging of the 19th Amendment, which guarantees women’s right to vote.
“#19thAmendment is an important anniversary but the vote is not enough. We need more women in office. VP and Virginia governor are good next steps,” Comey wrote, also referencing Republican senator Amanda Chases’s decision to run for office.
But Ms Clinton, who partly blames Comey for her 2016 election defeat to Donald Trump, appeared less than impressed by the former FBI chief’s call to action.
The former secretary of state and first lady responded with a social media post of her own. Clinton shared to Twitter a GIF of herself looking bewildered, during an interview with Zach Galifianakis on his mock talk show, ‘Between Two Ferns.’
Clinton appeared on the show in September 2016 during the race for the White House.
Former Clinton aide Nick Merrill also criticised Comey’s call to elect more women. “A lot of us tried. You f***ed it up,” he wrote on Twitter, sarcastically adding: “But the T-shirt definitely makes up for it.”
A month after Clinton appeared on the show – and two weeks before the 2016 November poll - Comey, then director of the FBI, opened a fresh investigation into Clinton’s emails, amid claims that she used her personal account to do business while serving in office at the state department.
https://t.co/Cd8rEvyf23 pic.twitter.com/2Po1Bl0dtl
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton)
The FBI probe found no evidence of criminal behaviour, but Clinton has claimed Comey’s decision turned the election in favour of Mr Trump.
In his 2018 book, A Higher Loyalty Comey admitted that the upcoming election may have influenced his decision to reopen the investigation into Clinton’s emails.
Comey’s tenure as FBI chief was terminated by Trump in May 2017.
The president’s office said Comey was fired over his handling of the inquiry into Clinton’s emails. But Democrats claimed that he was axed because the FBI was investigating alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Clinton was “ecstatic” at Comey being fired, according to a book written by the journalist Ryan Grim.
Three years on, Clinton will speak at Wednesday night’s virtual DNC, and has previously said she would be willing to serve under Joe Biden, should he become president in November.
After more than four years in public life, Clinton continues to be a strong advocate for women’s rights and made history in 2016 by being the first women to be nominated as president by a major party.
She will speak on the same night as senator Harris becomes the first Black woman to accept a spot on a major presidential ticket and one day after the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage.
That’s expected to send a message about staying in the fight to women across the country for whom 2016 was a turning point, said Cecile Richards, co-founder of Supermajority, which formed in 2019 to train and mobilise women activists.
“The fact that she hasn’t given up, I think, has encouraged a lot of women to not give up,” Richards, the former president of Planned Parenthood, told Associated Press.
“I think there’s an important role she has to play in saying, ‘OK, she’s getting up every morning and doing this work and we can, too.’ I think it’s an important message that you’ve just got to dust yourself off and keep going.”
