The former FBI director said President Donald Trump is dangerous because of his repeated attacks on lawmakers and private citizens who do not agree with him. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images White House Trump attacks Comey for saying Democrats 'have to win' the White House in 2020

President Donald Trump on Tuesday took a whack at James Comey, after the former FBI director called on Democrats to nominate someone who could unseat the president in 2020.

"James Comey just totally exposed his partisan stance by urging his fellow Democrats to take back the White House in 2020," the president tweeted. "In other words, he is and has been a Democrat. Comey had no right heading the FBI at any time, but especially after his mind exploded!"


It is unclear what the president meant by saying Comey's "mind exploded."

Comey on Sunday night said Democrats "have to win" the White House back from Trump, adding that the midterms turnout this year made him optimistic for the presidential election in 2020.

The former FBI director, who was fired by Trump after the two clashed over the agency's Russia probe, said the president is dangerous because of his repeated attacks on lawmakers and private citizens who do not agree with him, and because of his track record of false statements.

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“All of us should use every breath we have to make sure the lying stops on Jan. 20, 2021,” Comey told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace. "I understand the Democrats have important debates now over who their candidate should be, but they have to win. They have to win."

Comey, who was a registered Republican for most of his life, said in 2016 that he no longer was.

The former FBI director previously served as deputy attorney general in George W. Bush's administration before President Barack Obama appointed him to be his FBI director. In the 2008 and 2012 elections, he donated to the presidential campaigns of John McCain and Mitt Romney, respectively.

Trump throughout his presidency has criticized the Justice Department and the FBI after officials began a probe into whether Russia colluded with Trump's 2016 campaign. Mueller has since widened the investigation to include possible obstruction of justice.

Since then, the president has called the investigation a "witch hunt," in addition to accusing the Justice Department of being biased against him.

The president later on Tuesday tweeted a quote from former FBI assistant director Chris Swecker criticizing Comey's stance.

"'I don’t care what you think of the President...it cannot bleed over to the FBI...Comey is confirming there is bias in the FBI...' -Chris Swecker," the president tweeted.