Former FBI Director James Comey said Attorney General Bill Barr should tell the American people what, exactly, the Justice Department is investigating related to the origins of the 2016 Russia probe.
‘Don’t drip it out, don’t leak it out, give it out,’ Comey encouraged Barr Saturday at Politicon on the heels of the New York Times reporting that a DOJ review of the Russia probe had turned into a criminal inquiry.
President Trump floated Friday that Comey could be ensnared.
Comey also joked with the audience that he’d become an ‘unemployed B-list celebrity’ since being fired by Trump from the FBI in May 2017 and that he’d move to ‘New Zealand’ if the president won the White House again.
Former FBI Director James Comey told an audience at Politicon Saturday that Attorney General Bill Barr should be transparent about the DOJ probe into the origins of the 2016 Russian investigation
President Trump has said the feds should ‘investigate the investigators!’ name-dropping James Comey as someone who could become ensnared in the probe that the New York Times reported this week had become criminal in nature
Comey sat down with Nicolle Wallace, an alumna of the Bush 43 administration and an MSNBC host, who asked about this so-called investigation into the investigators, as Trump puts it.
‘I can’t tell what’s going on with the attorney general and that investigation,’ Comey said. ‘I was deeply concerned with some things he said early on using the words “spying” and saying there are things that just don’t make sense. And at the time I said that’s not the way pros operate.’
Comey suggested if there was a there-there Barr would have stayed mum.
‘If there’s a reason to look at something you shut up and you try and gather the facts and then you share the facts with us. And I still feel that way,’ Comey said. ‘I don’t know what they’re looking at and so I’m not really in a position to say you shouldn’t investigate.’
‘If you’re going to investigate, investigate,’ Comey added.
The former head of the FBI also noted that John Durham, the prosecutor in charge, has a ‘strong professional reputation’ and was an ‘excellent prosecutor.’
James Comey joked to the crowd that he’d become ‘an unemployed B-list celebrity’ since being fired by President Trump – and that he’d move to New Zealand if Trump won again
‘I would hope that Mr. Durham will do everything possible to protect his reputation from being damaged from those in leadership,’ Comey said.
Speaking to the New York Times’ reporting on the review becoming ‘criminal,’ Comey said, ‘I don’t know what to make of it,’ and cast some doubt on the newspaper’s reporting since it came from anonymous sources.
During his sit-down with Wallace, Comey talked about life since being fired, testifying before Congress and writing a book.
‘It was never one of my career goals to be an unemployed B-list celebrity,’ he said.
He vowed that he would never run for elected office – opting for teaching and lecturing instead.
But he did give the Democrats some advice.
In short, don’t nominate someone too far to the left.
‘[Trump’s] counting on winning again because he’s counting on provoking Democrats to nominate someone who will leave the middle to stay at home,’ Comey said. ‘That’s his path.’
‘Because what will happen is if there’s too much difference people will have a hard time lifting their eyes and looking at the values,’ Comey said, adding the election would be about policy disagreements and not the greater moral threat Trump poses.
Comey, who supported Republican presidential candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney, admitted he was the ‘last person who should be giving advice to Democrats.’
‘I will work for whoever is nominated because whoever it is will have a set of values … [more] than this incumbent, but I sure hope that whoever they nominate, it is someone who motivates that great, exhaustive majority in this country,’ Comey said.
Wallace asked Comey would still have faith in the U.S. if Trump indeed won a second term.
‘From my new home in New Zealand,’ Comey answered, cuing laughs. ‘I still will believe in America.’