Comey slams GOP over attacks on FBI
Former FBI director James Comey yesterday accused 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,’’ Comey told reporters, following his second closed-door interview this month with House lawmakers running a politically divisive investigation into 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 Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., 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, without naming names.
Comey testified for nearly six hours yesterday, in addition to the six-hour closed-door discussion he had with panel members earlier this month.
During that session, he defended his decisions as FBI director – such as superseding then-Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch to declare the Clinton probe closed and then informing congressional leaders days before the 2016 election that it had been reopened.
Comey reiterated that defence even more strongly yesterday, flatly refusing 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?’’
Republicans on the panel have been in open conflict with Comey about whether he was appropriately forthcoming with his answers.
– Washington Post