Democratic congressman hijacks hearing to ask FBI director about Trump retweeting white supremacists

Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr. of Missouri took FBI Director James Comey's Thursday hearing in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee off the rails when he asked about Donald Trump's retweeting of white supremacists.

Clay also asked if Comey was familiar with the "Daily Stormer" website, a white supremacist site that promotes "the hashtag #WhiteGenocide to protest what they believe is an effort to eliminate the white race."

"I am not," Comey said.

Clay continued, asking Comey if he's concerned whether someone who promotes such ideas on social media could become violent.

Comey insisted that he doesn't know enough about the specifics of the "white genocide" hashtag to voice an opinion, but added the FBI is "always concerned" when someone "goes beyond protected speech."

"One of my biggest concerns is that certain public figures are promoting these groups even further," Clay said. "As you may know, one of our most vocal candidates for president retweeted @WhiteGenocideTM. Three weeks later he did it again, and two days later he retweeted a different user who's image also included 'White Genocide' - and that's not all of them."

"Do those actions make it easier for those racist groups to recruit even more supporters?" he then asked.

Comey said he couldn't give a good answer on the subject.

The FBI director was called before the committee to testify about his recommendation to not prosecute presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over her use of private email servers when she served as secretary of state.