James Comey Subtweets Trump After He Called Him A ‘Political Hack’ And Defended Vladimir Putin


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In what appears to be a response to President Donald Trump’s supposed defense of Vladimir Putin and Russia regarding accusations of election meddling by U.S. intelligence, ex-FBI Director James Comey subtweeted his former boss on social media. Though Comey only made his Twitter account official this past week, the Obama-era appointee has frequently used the account formerly named for the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr to troll the Trump administration. However, this time Comey quoted Charles Spurgeon, a British Baptish preacher from the mid-1800s, to get his point across.

“If you want truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it,” Comey tweeted. “But if you want a lie to go round the world, it will fly; it is light as a feather and a breath will carry it.” Taken from Sermons delivered in Exeter Hall, Strand, during the enlargement of New Park Street Chapel, Southmark, a collection of Spurgeon’s religious orations published in 1855, Comey’s quote concerns the difficulty of spreading true stories when compared to the ease with which lies can travel “round the world.” It seems the lie in question here is Trump’s defense of Putin against U.S. intelligence officials past and present.

“I mean, give me a break — they’re political hacks,” Trump told the New York Times of former CIA Director John Brennan, ex-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and Comey. “You have Brennan, you have Clapper, and you have Comey. Comey’s proven now to be a liar, and he’s proven to be a leaker, so you look at that. And you have President Putin very strongly, vehemently says he had nothing to do with that.” Of course, there’s no direct proof that Comey’s tweet is an indirect response to Trump’s comments here, but don’t tell Twitter that.

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