Former FBI Director James Comey’s new book contains an excerpt about the days preceding the 2016 election, as quoted in a New York Times review, that has caught the attention of many:

An FBI director writing that he was swayed by polling is certainly quite an admission:

The thing is, he is implicitly admitting that he was weighing factors other than the meaning of the law when he made his decision. This…isn't really as exculpatory for anyone as some people seem to think it is. If anything, it shows that Comey's calculus was political. https://t.co/SEGoMuVHU1 — James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) April 12, 2018

Bingo.

So, the Director of the FBI was making law enforcement decisions based on…polls? https://t.co/9uzDlUYIm2 — Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) April 13, 2018

Those on the Hillary Clinton side in 2016 were especially troubled by that, whether Comey’s letter to Congress not long before the election had a big impact on how people voted or not:

I respect that he is admitting it. https://t.co/wpUdwNyOYT — Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) April 12, 2018

Needless to say, when I worked did Janet Reno, she never consulted polls before she made decisions on how to handle a criminal case. https://t.co/V7pyAhB8bg — Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) April 13, 2018

I feel like a lot of people have forgotten that Comey's letter to Congress in late October almost certainly changed the outcome of the election. You know who hasn't forgotten? Comey. https://t.co/um1JB7UFLH — Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) April 12, 2018

Hello @MarkRuffalo – can we please have a hulk smash here https://t.co/CF6DA8zrH4 — Kombiz Lavasany (@kombiz) April 12, 2018

Burns it all in a cleansing fire. https://t.co/sfwtWXYxEl — jess mcintosh (@jess_mc) April 12, 2018

the only thing more infuriating than Comey refusing to acknowledge his role in Trump's presidency is Comey acknowledging it and not giving a shit https://t.co/wOke3wxEgg — Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) April 12, 2018

Don’t help Comey profit from what he did. If you must read his book, please remember libraries exist. https://t.co/aM3O42N5o4 — Jamison Foser (@jamisonfoser) April 12, 2018

So basically we have Trump as president because Comey couldn’t read poll probabilities right? Cc @NateSilver538 https://t.co/Nk9zowVwZ1 — Neera Tanden ? (@neeratanden) April 12, 2018

Well, it’s still mostly because Hillary Clinton was a bad candidate who didn’t even go to Wisconsin and went to coal country and pledged to put people out of work. So it wasn’t entirely Comey’s letter that doomed her campaign.

***

Related:

SPARE us! Comey’s passage about his private meeting with Obama will make you nauseous

UH-OH? James Comey’s book contains an ‘ominous reference’ to Loretta Lynch

REALLY!? If THIS is any indication, James Comey’s book won’t exactly scream ‘IMPEACH’