Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski suggested Tuesday that Democrats criticizing FBI Director James Comey's announcement on Friday to relaunch the Hillary Clinton email probe are reinforcing the belief that Clinton did something wrong by choosing to use a private server as secretary of state.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) appeared on the MSNBC program to discuss Comey's letter to Congress last week announcing that the FBI would be looking into more emails pertaining to the Clinton investigation. McCaskill, a former prosecutor herself, blasted Comey's decision to relaunch the investigation.
FBI agents had found emails relevant to the Clinton probe while conducting a separate investigation into former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner's alleged sexting with an underage girl. Weiner is the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, and the two reportedly shared a laptop that contained emails related to Clinton's tenure at the State Department.
Brzezinski started the interview with McCaskill by noting that Democratic criticism of Comey's actions has reinforced the notion that Clinton did something wrong with her email practices.
"The only thing that makes me think is that you're actually reenforcing the premise that there's something there," Brzezinski said, referring to the growing criticism levied against Comey by leading Democratic politicians. "Because this is a man of great integrity, according to everybody who works for Hillary Clinton on down. He's not partisan."
McCaskill pushed back against Brzezinski's assertion that Democratic criticism of Comey reinforces the idea that Clinton did something wrong or illegal by using a private server.
Democrats have attacked Comey for making his announcement just over a week before Election Day. Some Democrats have even gone as far as calling for Comey's resignation or suggesting that he violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activity.
This criticism of Comey comes after Democrats praised him this summer after he announced that the FBI would not be recommending charges against Clinton for her alleged mishandling of classified information while she was secretary of state.