On Thursday, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign manager castigated James Comey, citing “good evidence” that the former FBI director “blew the election.”

Just hours before the highly-anticipated release of the Inspector General’s report, John Podesta laid it out for The Hill’s morning television show, Rising:

“I’m not going to defend Jim Comey. I criticized him from the day he dropped a letter to [lawmakers] … right before the election.

“He refused to take the advice of senior people in the Justice Department, so I’m not going to defend him.”

The report was expected to be highly critical of Comey and his actions concerning Clinton just prior to the election, at which point he reopened the investigation of her private email server (and indeed it is disparaging, calling his decisions “extraordinary and insubordinate”).

Podesta also questioned why President Trump fired Comey amid the Russia collusion investigation, suggesting Comey’s handling of Clinton surely didn’t put Trump at odds with him:

“On the other hand, do you think there is anyone in America, whether they watch Fox News, MSNBC or watch The Hill.com, who believes Donald Trump fired Jim Comey because he was unfair to Hillary Clinton and kind of blew the election for us, which there is good evidence he did?”

Podesta: "I'm not going to defend Jim Comey. I've criticized him from the day he dropped the letter to the Hill – October 28th – right before the election." Check out the rest of the interview on Rising. https://t.co/t4XYnGN51k pic.twitter.com/03HLykrLqP

— HILLTV (@HillTVLive) June 14, 2018

Since the release of the report, Podesta may have other things to think on. He’s more than mentioned in passing:

An entire chapter of the #DOJIGReport involves an investigation it states arises from the @WikiLeaks revelation that DoJ official Peter J. Kadzik gave Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta the "heads up": pic.twitter.com/sXER02gepc

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 14, 2018

Since Hillary Clinton lost the election, she has attempted a career in a groundbreakingly new field: blaming others for her humiliating loss. From labeling Trump voters as sexist to blaming those around her, she seems to have grabbed at every straw possible to deflect from the fact that she underperformed. She was a candidate with a decades-long history of corruption, including the couldn’t-be-more-overt Clinton Foundation. The IG report will no doubt further fuel her fire, and Comey’s reopening of the investigation surely didn’t help her. However, many Americans thought she was a bag of hot air. And ultimately, it is that combustible inflation that burst, and in popping, blew the election.

In remembrance of that tense period in America when the presidency was up for grabs — and for a little bit of nostalgia on this Throwback Thursday — kickback and enjoy the video below.

Check out my recent article on Giuliani’s expectations for Comey in light of the report.

Read about last night’s Republican anticipation of the report here.

Please visit all my RedState work here.

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