John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, claimed Thursday there is "good evidence" then-FBI Director James Comey cost the Democratic nominee the election because of his late October announcement that his agency was investigating the former secretary of state.

"I'm not going to defend Jim Comey. I've criticized him from the day he dropped a letter to the Hill, Oct. 28, right before the election," Podesta told the Hill's "Rising" Thursday morning. "He refused to take the advice of senior people in the Justice Department, so I'm not going to defend him."

Podesta also commented on President Trump firing Comey in May 2017.

"Do you think there is anyone in America, whether they watch Fox News, MSNBC or watch TheHill.com, who believes Donald Trump fired Jim Comey because he was unfair to Hillary Clinton and kind of blew the election for us, which I think there is good evidence he did," he added.

Podesta's remarks come hours before the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General is set to release a report on the FBI's handling of the Clinton emails investigation.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions warned Wednesday that he is open to terminating additional FBI officials if the report points to bad actors within the agency.