Furious supporters of Hillary Clinton have been lashing out on social media, with FBI director James Comey becoming the number one scapegoat for his famous letter to Congress over her emails.

Boston Globe columnist Michael Cohen tweeted: 'When you look at the likely narrow margin of Clinton's defeat, it's pretty safe to say that the Comey letter tipped the balance.'

Chris Cillizza, author of Washington Post's The Fix, tweeted: 'I asked D strategist close to Clinton WTF is going on. Response "One word: Comey".'

FBI director James Comey (pictured) ignored advice from several senior colleagues in the Department of Justice to send out the letter

Tweets like this were common among Clinton supporters after Trump's victory

'If Trump wins, I suspect he owes a big "thank you" to Jim Comey,' New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof tweeted.

In July the FBI concluded that Mrs Clinton had been 'careless' but not criminal in handling sensitive material on her private email server while Secretary of State.

But only 10 days before the election Mr Comey wrote to Congress members saying he was reviewing the case again after a number of 'pertinent' emails were found.

Comedian Chris D'Elia let out this expletive-laden tweet as the results started rolling in

Supporters of Hillary Clinton at the Javits Center in New York are in despair after Trump's shock victory (pictured). But some Clinton supporters blamed James Comey for costing her the election

Some Clinton supporters claimed Comey (pictured) should have been charged under the Hatch Act

They are believed to have been found on the laptop of Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Mrs Clinton's closest adviser, Huma Abedin.

Then, at the weekend, Mr Comey wrote a second letter to Congress, confirming that nothing in the new emails gave him reason to change his original conclusion.

But the Clinton campaign team were furious at the October 28 letter and some even claimed Mr Comey may have broken the Hatch Act, which bans federal officials from influencing elections.

Huffington Post columnist Ann Brenoff wrote on Facebook: 'Comey should be charged with interfering with an election. One third of the electorate voted during the 9 days between when he said he was investigating her and then said "never mind".'

But Vice journalist Michael Tracey responded: 'The Clinton loyalist crowd will blame everyone but Hillary - Putin, Sanders, the media, Jill Stein, James Comey, the voters themselves.'

Hillary Clinton (pictured, with husband Bill) has rung Trump to concede defeat but she has yet to make a formal speech or be seen in public since the result was announced

Politico journalist Julia Ioffe tweeted: 'Democrats, stop blaming Comey. He didn't make Clinton have a private server, take $600K for a speech while preparing a presidential run.'

Paul Begala, a former adviser to Bill Clinton, told CNN that blaming Comey was like thinking a faulty washing machine was to blame when an earthquake rocks your house.