--- title: Trump: James Comey 'Best Thing' That Happened to Clinton description: President Donald Trump tweeted that FBI Director James Comey was “the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton" canonical: https://time.com/4764639/donald-trump-james-comey-hillary-clinton/ author: Feliz Solomon article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-03T07:54:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:00:44.376Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Says James Comey 'Best Thing' That Happened to Clinton og:description: The President tweeted the remarks after Clinton claimed Comey led to her defeat og:url: https://time.com/4764639/donald-trump-james-comey-hillary-clinton/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc26a8923724bd769/6988cbc4cf40a89c67c47860/gettyimages-676088166.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5568 og:image:height: 3132 og:image:alt: US-TRUMP-AIRFORCE-TROPHY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Says James Comey 'Best Thing' That Happened to Clinton twitter:description: The President tweeted the remarks after Clinton claimed Comey led to her defeat twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc26a8923724bd769/6988cbc4cf40a89c67c47860/gettyimages-676088166.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Says James Comey Was 'Best Thing That Ever Happened' to Hillary Clinton > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b920a65f-7d44-43d4-92dc-91fa73da6206&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Hillary Clinton Says Russian Interference Played A Part In Election Results [Watch (HLS stream): Hillary Clinton Says Russian Interference Played A Part In Election Results](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FONCyDmH.m3u8) (1:48)  _Published 2017-05-02. Hillary Clinton wistfully reflected on the 2016 campaign on Tuesday, acknowledging that reliving her second failed attempt at the White House is painful, and that misogyny, FBI Director James Comey, and Russian interference played a role in her loss._ by [Feliz Solomon](https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon May 3, 2017 7:54 AM UTC by [Feliz Solomon](https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon May 3, 2017 7:54 AM UTC President Donald Trump took to Twitter late Tuesday to share his unconventional view that FBI Director James Comey was “the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton,” shortly after Clinton said during an interview that Comey[ may have cost her the presidency](http://motto.time.com/4763690/hillary-clinton-misogyny-campaign-loss-donald-trump-james-comey/) in last year’s bitter race. “FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds!” Trump tweeted, claiming that the Democratic party has tried to justify its election loss by drawing attention to [alleged ties between Trump’s associates](http://time.com/4754803/donald-trump-russia-investigation-momentum/) and the Russian government. [Speaking](http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/02/politics/hillary-clinton-planned-parenthood-women-for-women/index.html) to CNN, Clinton said that while she takes responsibility for her crushing upset on Nov. 8, she ultimately blames Comey and Russian interference for swaying voters against her. Comey, who led the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State, revealed less than two weeks before the election that the probe would be re-opened. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/859601184285491201) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/859604996236742656) “If the election had been on Oct. 27, I would be your President,” Clinton said, referring to the day before Comey’s bruising decision in the form of a letter to Congress. The incident became known as Clinton’s “October Surprise,” throwing a spanner in works of a campaign that was widely projected to win by a large margin and elevate her to being the first woman in the Oval Office. “I was on the way to winning,” Clinton told CNN, “until the combination of Jim Comey’s letter on Oct. 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me, but got scared off.” ## Transcript It wasn't a perfect campaign. There is no such thing. But I was on the way to winning until the combination of Jim Comey's letter on October 28th and Russian Wikileaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me, but got scared off And the evidence for that intervening event is I think compelling, persuasive. And so we overcame a lot in the campaign. We overcame an enormous. A barrage of negativity, of false equivalency and so much else but as Nate Silver who he doesn't work for me, he's an independent analyst but one considered to be. Very reliable, has concluded if the election had been on October 27th, I'd be your president. Were you a victim of misogyny? And why do you think you lost the majority of the white female vote? Just to give you a tiny little preview. Yes, i do think it played a role. I think other things did as well. Every day that goes by, we learn more. About some of the unprecedented interference including from a foreign power later is not a member of my plan club. And so I think it is, it is a real, it is very much a part of the Landscape politically, socially, and economically. I am going to publicly request that this administration not end our efforts making Whitman's Rights and opportunities central to American Foreign Policy and National Security. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4764639/donald-trump-james-comey-hillary-clinton/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4764639/donald-trump-james-comey-hillary-clinton/"},"headline":"Trump Says James Comey Was 'Best Thing That Ever Happened' to Hillary Clinton","datePublished":"2017-05-03T07:54:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:00:44.376Z","description":"Clinton said in a recent interview that a combination of the \"Comey letter\" and Russian hacking led to her devastating loss","url":"https://time.com/4764639/donald-trump-james-comey-hillary-clinton/","keywords":["Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc26a8923724bd769/6988cbc4cf40a89c67c47860/gettyimages-676088166.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Feliz Solomon","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc26a8923724bd769/6988cbc4cf40a89c67c47860/gettyimages-676088166.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-TRUMP-AIRFORCE-TROPHY","caption":"US-TRUMP-AIRFORCE-TROPHY","creditText":"Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4764639/donald-trump-james-comey-hillary-clinton/","name":"Trump Says James Comey Was 'Best Thing That Ever Happened' to Hillary Clinton"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Hillary Clinton Says Russian Interference Played A Part In Election Results","description":"Hillary Clinton wistfully reflected on the 2016 campaign on Tuesday, acknowledging that reliving her second failed attempt at the White House is painful, and that misogyny, FBI Director James Comey, and Russian interference played a role in her loss.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FONCyDmH/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-05-02T19:52:55.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FONCyDmH.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4764639/donald-trump-james-comey-hillary-clinton/","duration":"PT1M48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4764639/donald-trump-james-comey-hillary-clinton/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```