FBI director mocked for roller-coaster announcements in final days of election

FBI Director James Comey’s latest big announcement was derided on Sunday for undercutting his previous one, which had threatened to upend the presidential race a little more than a week ago.

At the end of last month, Comey sent a bombshell letter to Congress declaring that newly discovered emails might be “pertinent” to the bureau’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server as secretary of state. But on Sunday, just days before Election Day, Comey sent another letter saying that FBI agents had reviewed all of the emails to or from Clinton and had found nothing to change his position on the long-closed probe.

The Clinton campaign was quick to react to the news.

“We have seen Director Comey’s latest letter,” communications director Jennifer Palmieri told reporters aboard the Clinton campaign plane. “We are glad to see that he has found, as we were confident that he would, that he has confirmed the conclusion that he reached in July, and we’re glad that this matter is resolved.”

“We were always confident nothing would cause the July decision to be revisited,” Brian Fallon, the Clinton campaign’s press secretary, tweeted. “Now Director Comey has confirmed it.”

Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trump’s campaign director, questioned Fallon’s conclusion.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, one of Trump’s top surrogates, fired off several tweets expressing his disbelief.

The reaction was swift elsewhere on Twitter, with many on both sides of the political aisle eager to mock the FBI director for injecting himself into the presidential race for essentially no reason.

Even Lady Gaga, Barbra Streisand and Cher chimed in.

Others anticipated partisan shape shifting in the hours to come.

Matt Drudge, founder of the popular conservative Drudge Report website, predicted a buzzy two days ahead.