Democratic strategist Maria Cardona on Saturday argued former FBI Director James Comey acted “as an agent of the Russian government” when he delivered a highly-criticized public rebuke of Hillary Clinton based on an intelligence document he knew was fake.

Friday, sources told CNN that Comey knew Russian intelligence alleging collusion between Clinton and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch was fake, but nonetheless went public with a deeply critical review of Clinton’s handling of an unsecured server.

ADVERTISEMENT

Cardona said she “cannot believe” those reports.

“What he told members of Congress is that the reason he felt compelled to go public with his editorializing about his decision on the Hillary Clinton investigation was because of this fake intelligence document,” Cardona said.

“He knew at that point that it was a fake intelligence document,” she added. “And to me that is astounding.”

Cardona said when Come acted on that document he “actually became and agent of the Russian government because he put his thumb on the scale and to me and so many others that worked on the 2016 election, was a key reason that election swing to Donald Trump.”

Cardona conceded while she has no doubt Comey was in one of “the most difficult positions” as a former FBI director and likely “lost sleep” over it, she argued his “exceptionally horrendous decision” helped the Kremlin.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I will give him the benefit of the doubt and say unwittingly, he put his thumb on the scale of this election, and did exactly what the Russian government wanted,” Cardona said.

Watch the video below, via CNN: