Nancy Pelosi

July: Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, praised Mr. Comey as “a man of integrity and honesty,” as she defended the credibility of the F.B.I.’s investigation into Mrs. Clinton when it first drew to a close last summer.

“His finger is on the pulse of this,” she said. “Nothing happens without him, and I think he’s going to be the definitive person to make the determination or the recommendation.”

Nov. 2: Ms. Pelosi said in an interview with CNN that Mr. Comey had “made a mistake” by disclosing that the F.B.I. was reviewing additional emails, adding, “Maybe he’s not in the right job.” When pressed on whether he should resign, she demurred. “I think that we have to just get through this election and just see what the casualties are along the way,” she said.

Now: “The president’s sudden and brazen firing of the F.B.I. director raises the ghosts of some of the worst executive branch abuses,” Ms. Pelosi said in a statement. “We cannot stand by and watch a cover-up of the possible collusion with a hostile foreign power to undermine American democracy.”