Donald Trump’s victory was juiced by FBI Director James Comey’s letter to Congress eleven days before the election. Comey’s letter, which resurfaced Clinton’s emails as a concern for voters, revitalized Donald Trump’s campaign and hobbled Hillary Clinton’s momentum, such as it was. That’s not just Hillary Clinton’s opinion, though it is her opinion also. That James Comey’s letter was a political bombshell — the FBI’s “October Surprise” — is the main point in the post-election narrative offered by Corey Lewandowski, too. Lewandowski was Trump’s first campaign manager and remained a close adviser after surrendering that post.
“With eleven days to go, something amazing happened,” Lewandowski told the Oxford Union debating society. That amazing something was Comey’s letter, which said the FBI had discovered more information pertaining to Clinton’s email server. The FBI had put the Clinton email investigation to bed months earlier, but Comey’s letter triggered the equivalent of a viral flare-up of a chronic condition for Clinton’s campaign. Comey later sent another letter saying there was no cause for alarm — that the new information wouldn’t cause the FBI to re-open the case. But by then the damage to Clinton and the boost for Trump was done, according to Lewandowski.
