Markey moves to cork G-man ‘leak’ criticism
Bay State U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey defended ousted FBI Director James B. Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and charged that President Trump “may very well have engaged in obstruction of justice” during a press conference yesterday in Boston.
Markey denied that Comey’s decision to hand over a memo documenting his conversation with Trump to a Columbia Law School professor who in turn gave it to The New York Times, was inappropriate.
“What James Comey did was not a leak,” Markey told reporters. “He did not in any way leak any top secret documents. He gave over documents which he had constructed himself that had no national security information that was contained.”
Markey also downplayed Comey’s testimony that Lynch — President Obama’s AG — ordered him to refer to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server scandal as a “matter,” not a more ominous-sounding “investigation.”
“The investigation — the matter — relating to Hillary Clinton was investigated totally by James Comey,” Markey said, noting that Lynch never made the same demands of Comey that he claims Trump did, such as a loyalty pledge or to lift the “cloud” of the Russia probe.
Markey, a Democrat, blasted Trump’s behavior as described by Comey as “at best inappropriate and at worst illegal.” He stopped short of calling for Trump’s impeachment, at least until the results of investigations conducted by the House, Senate and Special Counsel Robert Mueller are released.
Trump and his legal team argue that Comey’s own assurances that he’s not the subject of an investigation clears him of any wrongdoing, but Markey dismissed that argument.
“Far from being totally vindicated, as he wants us to believe,” Markey said, “Donald Trump may very well have engaged in obstruction of justice.”