Hillary Clinton mocks former FBI director James Comey for urging people to elect 'more women'

Former FBI director James Comey said "we need more women in office" and Hillary Clinton had some thoughts.

Comey's decision to re-open the FBI investigation into Clinton's private emails less than two weeks before the 2016 presidential election may have cost her her victory in that crucial race.

Under Comey, the FBI had already concluded an investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server for official communication while she was secretary of state. While Comey found her actions to be "extremely careless", she wasn't charged with a crime as she didn't act with "criminal intent".

But on 28 October 2016, Comey notified congress that the FBI were looking into new emails, possibly lending greater power to Trump's 'Crooked Hillary' nickname for Clinton. The scandal dominated headlines and drew the ire of Democrats and Republicans alike, as it was revealed that Comey had begun drafting a letter of exoneration for Clinton before the investigation was complete.

Ultimately, the FBI's second probe into Clinton didn't alter the conclusion of the first one. A Department of Justice report found no evidence of political bias in the FBI's investigation, but Comey did admit in his 2018 book A Higher Loyalty that the upcoming election may have influenced his decision to re-open the investigation.

In 2018 it was also revealed that Comey had used his own personal email server while conducting the investigation.

It's impossible to say for certain whether Clinton would currently be running for re-election if it weren't for Comey, but his demand that the US elect "more women" was a little ironic, to say the least.

Hillary Clinton responded with a gif of herself.

Gifs of the former presidential hopeful were a fairly popular response.

But other people were more to the point.

Comey's tweet celebrates the 19th amendment to the US constitution which guaranteed women the right to vote in 1920. He also appeared to lend support to Democrat vice president nominee Kamala Harris and to the multiple women running for governor of Virginia in 2021.

Given that the US ranks 75th in the world for female representation in government, they probably should elect "more women". But perhaps Comey, of all people, is not the right person to tell us that.