Donald Trump suggests FBI director is guilty of Hillary Clinton cover-up

Donald Trump takes aim at James Comey, FBI director

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

In his Republican presidential nomination acceptance speech, Donald Trump said that Hillary Clinton had "illegally" stored her emails on a private server and deleted "33,000 of them so the authorities can’t see her crime," and faced "no consequences." That's standard fare for his Republican National Convention. But then he took aim at FBI Director James Comey:

When the FBI director says that the secretary of state was 'extremely careless' and 'negligent,' in handling our classified secrets, I also know that these terms are minor compared to what she actually did. They were just used to save her from facing justice for her terrible crimes. In fact, her single greatest accomplishment may be committing such an egregious crime and getting away with it — especially when others have paid so dearly. [Donald Trump]

If that sounds like Trump is accusing Comey of lying for Clinton and covering up her crimes, you're not alone:

Trump isn't the only one casting aspersions on Comey and his FBI. His campaign chief, Paul Manafort, said earlier in the day that "the FBI is certainly suspect these days after what they just did with Hillary Clinton."

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Maybe the Trump campaign is just upset at Comey's testimony that, contrary to Trump's claim, Clinton did not receive any special treatment. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.