Comey to GOP: ‘Stand up, speak the truth’
James Comey accused US President Donald Trump of trying “to burn down the entire FBI” and charged that congressional Republicans were willing accomplices for failing to challenge him.
“The FBI’s reputation has taken a big hit because the President with his acolytes has lied about it constantly,” the former FBI Director told reporters, following his second closed-door interview this month with lawmakers investigating how federal law enforcement officials handled probes of the Trump campaign’s alleged Russia ties and Hillary Clinton’s emails.
But Comey directed his vitriol not just at the GOP members of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees, but at all Republicans — including retiring GOP lawmakers, such as senators Bob Corker and Jeff Flake, who have openly criticised Trump but aren’t seeking re-election.
“At some point someone as to stand up and face the fear of Fox News, fear of their base, fear of mean tweets, stand up for the values of this country and not slink away into retirement but stand up and speak the truth,” Comey said.
He testified for nearly six hours yesterday, in addition to the previous sixhour discussion he had with panel members.
Comey yesterday flatly refused to take any personal responsibility for the reputation of the FBI having suffered under his stewardship. He instead blamed Trump for “lying about the FBI, attacking the FBI and attacking the rule of law in this country,” and the “silence from people in this building” — meaning Capitol Hill — for allowing him to do it.
“Republicans used to understand that the actions of a president matter, the words of a president matter, the rule of law matter and the truth matters,” he said. “Where are those Republicans today?”
Comey also said at an event in New York that if Trump were not president, he would be “in serious jeopardy of being charged” by New York prosecutors in a case concerning payments made to silence women who alleged affairs with him years ago.