President Trump claims James Comey 'saved Hillary Clinton's life'

President Trump.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Eighty-one days into his presidency, Trump once again seized an opportunity to hit his former rival, Hillary Clinton, this time claiming that FBI Director James Comey "saved her life."

Trump was apparently referring to Comey's decision last year not to pursue charges against Clinton over her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state. While Comey admitted Clinton had been "extremely careless" in her handling of classified information, he added at the time that "our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case."

Trump told Fox Business that "when [Comey] was reading those charges, [Clinton] was guilty of every charge, and then he said she was essentially okay … Director Comey was very, very good to Hillary Clinton, that I can tell you. If he weren't, she would be right now going to trial."

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During his campaign, Trump promised to appoint a special prosecutor to "investigate Hillary Clinton's crimes" and encouraged his crowds to chant "lock her up." Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo pressed Trump to ask, "Are you going to push that?"

"I don't want to talk about that," said Trump. "I want to talk about positive." Jeva Lange

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.