FBI Director James Comey should step down for refusing to divulge information that Russia was allegedly interfering with the presidential election, outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Saturday.
Meanwhile, members of Hillary Clinton's campaign called a report that the CIA determined that Russia intervened to secure Donald Trump's election "soul-crushing."
"We have all read the press the last few days; the FBI had this material for a long time," the Nevada Democrat, who is retiring by the end of the year, told MSNBC's "AM Joy" on Saturday. "But he, Comey, who's a Republican, refused to divulge this information about Russia interfering with the presidential election."
Reid in October tried to warn the country about the CIA having information about Russia's alleged activities, and wrote a letter to that effect to Comey.
However, at that time, Reid said Saturday, he did not believe Comey was "the new Edgar Hoover," and had faith he would "do the right thing for the country."
"But he would not let well enough alone," said Reid of Comey. "He couldn't do enough to help and everyone knows that WikiLeaks, everyone should know, WikiLeaks was involved from the very beginning. They leaked the information as if they were one of the great political operatives of America, when in fact it was run by the operatives in Russia."
Russia, meanwhile, "has a pretty good way of cheating," said Reid. "Look what they did with athletes. This is just the needle under the tent. The point is, this is just the beginning."
On Saturday, Clinton Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri called the news "soul-crushing" in a tweet.
"We shouted about this as loud as we could,” tweeted former Clinton spokesman Josh Schwerin in another tweet. “Hardly anyone listened."
Former Clinton Press Secretary Brian Fallon, meanwhile, said Russian President Vladimir Putin got what he wanted:
Meanwhile, some Senate Republicans, led by Arizona's John McCain and South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, also joined Democrats this week in calling for a probe into Russia's activities involving the election. Graham will lead the probe into Russia's activities, which Reid said he welcomes.
"He's an accomplished trial lawyer, he is one of the people that led the impeachment of President [Bill] Clinton, he's a good lawyer, and I think he should get involved in this," said Reid. "I think with his doing that, with the voice he has, I think he'll bring in some of the Republican moderates, there aren't many, but he'll bring in some. Because this is really important."
But there is not time for the Justice Department to take action against Comey, so it would be best for him to resign, said Reid.
He also thinks Comey's activities should be investigated by the Senate and other government agencies.
"You look at the accounts we have, just in the press the last few days, it's stunning the conclusions reached by the press," said Reid. "Thank goodness we have got them still around. This is not fake news, OK? Intelligence agencies have connection to the Russian government. There's no question about that. "
Reid said the revelations do undermine the legitimacy of the incoming Trump administration.
"He was elected, you know, this is a hanging chad 1,000 times over," said Reid. "He lost the election, actually by about 3 million votes but we have the system we have here, which, by the way, should change very soon."