“Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over...and so much more,” President Donald Trump said on Twitter early Friday. “A rigged system!” | Carolyn Kaster/AP Trump: Comey's Clinton email investigation part of 'rigged system'

President Donald Trump on Friday responded to a report about former FBI Director James Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and declared the system “rigged.”

“Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over...and so much more,” Trump said on Twitter early Friday. “A rigged system!”


The president seemed to be responding to statements from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Sen. Lindsey Graham, two Republicans who said Thursday that Comey had started drafting a statement clearing Clinton of charges in the case before she was interviewed by the FBI.

“Conclusion first, fact-gathering second—that’s no way to run an investigation. The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy," Grassley and Graham wrote in a letter requesting all FBI records of the draft statements.

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Comey took the unusual step of publicly announcing the bureau’s decision not to recommend charges against Clinton in the case, which involved her use of a private email server as secretary of state. At a press conference in July 2016, Comey described Clinton as careless in her use of the server but said criminal charges were not appropriate.

Trump repeatedly used the email investigation to attack Clinton throughout his campaign for president, contending that she was corrupt and repeatedly suggesting that she should be prosecuted.

Trump in May fired Comey, citing at the time the former FBI director's handling of the investigation into Clinton's server.