Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump went on a tear Tuesday about the FBI’s decision not to pursue charges against likely Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, declaring that “stupidity” shouldn’t excuse her secret email setup and calling the investigation the “FBI primary.”
Mr. Trump said that Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernard Sanders had been waiting for an indictment to bring down Mrs. Clinton but he lost that contest.
“Guess what he just lost today — the FBI primary. I feel so badly for Bernie,” Mr. Trump said, feigning pity and delighting the crowd at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“But you know what, a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters are going to be voting for Trump because Bernie Sanders was right,” said the billionaire businessman. “He was right about the system being rigged and he was right about trade.”
Mr. Trump repeatedly describe the political system as “rigged,” and credited himself with popularizing the term that was later adopted by Mr. Sanders in his valiant but ultimately unsuccessful primary run against Mrs. Clinton.
“Today is the best evidence every that we’ve seen that our system is rigged,” he said.
Mr. Trump also said that he was surprised by FBI Director James B. Comey’s announcement because it started out sounding like a strong case in favor of charges, including outlining her mishandling of classified material while secretary of state.
“She was guilty. And it turned out that we’re not going to press charges. It is really amazing,” he said. “We have a rigged system, folks.”
He said the decision threatened to force the government to exonerate people previously convicted of mishandling classified information, which can be a crime even if the the act is unintentional.
“You don’t even have to know what you did was wrong. Stupidity is not a reason,” said Mr. Trump.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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