Here's a look back at how several prominent Republicans felt in 2016 about a person under FBI investigation

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

published 21 March 2017

On Monday, FBI Director James Comey confirmed that since July, the agency has been investigating the nature of links between Russia and the Trump campaign, and some people who haven't completely blocked the year 2016 from their memory are having a field day with this disclosure.

The Huffington Post's Jason Linkins remembers all of the prominent Republicans who objected to Hillary Clinton being able to run for office while being the subject of an FBI probe — Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and House Speaker Paul Ryan, as well as failed presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — and has compiled their letters, interviews, and tweets to remind everyone of the positions they held not that long ago.

For instance, in a letter sent to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper last July, Ryan formally requested he "refrain from providing classified information" to Clinton during the duration of her candidacy, and after the FBI announced it was "reopening" the investigation into Clinton's email server, Priebus, then the head of the Republican National Committee, said "this alone should be disqualifying for anyone seeking the presidency, a job that is supposed to begin each morning with a top secret intelligence briefing." Now that we all know where they stand, let's see what they have to say in the days to come.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox