(CNSNews.com) – Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is among the Democrats blasting President Trump’s abrupt decision to fire FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, but Comey would have been fired immediately if Hillary Clinton had won, a White House spokeswoman said on Tuesday night.
Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made the comment on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” and she said something similar on the Wednesday morning news shows:
I think one of the big things, Tucker, here you’ve got guys like Schumer out there criticizing, I'm sure that many other Democrats will follow suit.
One of the things that I find so interesting is that Hillary Clinton had won, which thank God she didn't, but if she had, Director Comey would have been fired immediately, and these same Democrats that are criticizing the president's decision today would be dancing in the streets. Let's focus on that. Let's go back and look at Senator Schumer's comments around the election.
Clinton has blamed Comey, in part, for her election defeat.
Eleven days before the election, the FBI director announced that he was reopening the investigation into Clinton’s mishandling of emails related to her work as Secretary of State. The FBI found no new evidence, but that wasn’t relayed to Congress until Nov. 6 – two days before the election.
Trump at the time said Comey had done "the right thing" in reopening the Clinton email probe, and he urged Comey to "hang tough."
So what prompted the sudden decision to fire Comey – especially at a time when Comey is leading an investigation into Trump associates’ possible ties to Russia?
Sanders on Tuesday said, “the president made a swift and decisive action and let Director Comey go” based on the recommendation of Comey’s boss, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who was confirmed only two weeks ago.
The decision to fire Comey was so swift, in fact, that Comey learned about his firing on television. Press reports said he just about to deliver a speech in California when news of his firing flashed on television screens in the room. Comey reportedly thought it was a prank until his staff told him otherwise.
Sanders told Tucker Carlson, “I believe he was notified. I know that a letter was hand-delivered to the FBI as well as electronic communications were sent notifying him of his dismissal.
"But look, I think when you make a decision like that, frankly, Tucker, why sit on it? If you know somebody is incapable of doing the job, particularly one as important as leading the FBI, they don't have the confidence of the people that they need to report to, and they have frankly politicized the role, then it’s time for them to go and there's no reason to sit on it.”
Sanders said Trump wants to make sure that he finds the “right” replacement for Comey – “somebody that’s not political.”
“I think we have to find somebody who can restore credibility back to this department. That certainly wasn't director Comey. Again, that's one of the reasons that he can no longer serve in that role and I think that he'll be looking for somebody who can step in and frankly I think bring credibility back to the FBI that has struggled with -- under director Comey's leadership.”