Former FBI Director James Comey criticized Republicans on Monday for bringing him in for another day of closed-door questions about investigations into Hillary Clinton and Russia, while President Trump continues to attack the FBI and the rule of law.
“So another day of Hillary Clinton’s emails and the Steele dossier. This while the President of the United States is lying about the FBI, attacking the FBI, and attacking the rule of law in this country. How does that make any sense at all?” Comey told reporters after nearly six hours of questioning before House lawmakers.
Comey was questioned on Monday by the House Judiciary and House Oversight committees, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch is expected before them on Wednesday. Republicans have been investigating the FBI and Justice Department’s actions ahead of the 2016 election, and were expected to quiz him on decisions he made atop the bureau, including on Hillary Clinton’s emails and the Russia investigation.
Less than two weeks ago, Republicans asked him about the use of the Trump-Russia dossier, which was paid for by Democrats and used, in part, in the FBI’s Russia investigation.
[READ: Transcript of James Comey’s closed-door House hearing]
After his second round of questioning, Comey accused Republicans of ignoring Trump’s lack of respect for the rule of law.
“Republicans used to understand that the actions of a president matter,” Comey told reporters. “The words of a president matter, the rule of law matters, and the truth matters. Where are those Republicans today?”
The Republicans’ “silence is shameful,” he added.
“At some point, someone has to stand up and in the face of 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.
Comey also weighed in on Trump’s remarks about his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who he said became a “rat” only after the FBI “broke into” his office.
The FBI in April raided Cohen’s home, office, and hotel room after a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller’s office. Last week, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty for federal crimes, including bank fraud, tax fraud, and campaign finance law violations that he said he committed at Trump’s direction when he paid two women to keep quiet about alleged affairs with the president.
“It undermines the rule of law,” Comey said of Trump’s remarks. “This is the president of the United States calling a witness who has just cooperated with the Justice Department ‘a rat.’ Say that again to yourself at home and remind yourself where we have ended up.”
“There’s a set of values that represent the glue of this country and they are under attack,” he said.
House Republicans only have until the end of this week to press their case, since Democrats will run the House next year. Incoming Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., has said he has no interest in continuing the investigations.
Democrats have continued to chastise Republicans for their investigation, with Rep. Lacy Clay, D-Mo., calling Monday’s interview the “last gasp” of their majority.
Outgoing House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., is retiring, as is House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. Neither have said whether they will provide a report or summary of their findings after their investigation.
A transcript of Monday’s interview session is expected to be released sometime Tuesday, just as it was after the first deposition. In the interview earlier this month, Comey was quizzed on the FBI’s handling of the Clinton case and what he knew about Christopher Steele and the FBI’s use of Steel’s largely unverified dossier connecting President Trump to Russia.
Before the Monday hearing, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said he wanted to know when Comey first learned about the Democrats’ funding of Steele’s dossier.
“I think that the knowledge of when the FBI and specifically Director Comey became aware of the involvement of the DNC, Perkins Coie, Fusion GPS as it relates to their hiring of Christopher Steele, the whole FISA application. At what point did he become aware of that?” Meadows told reporters earlier Tuesday.
“He seemed to indicate the other day that he wasn’t aware of that until he read reports long after he was gone. I find that very hard to substantiate based on other evidence,” Meadows added. “So hopefully we’ll give him a chance today to clarify that. I can tell you when you look at his public statements and also his testimony, those don’t seem to reconcile, so we’re going to give him a chance to hopefully reconcile his remarks.”
Trump and Comey have repeatedly publicly traded barbs on Twitter.
“Leakin’ James Comey must have set a record for who lied the most to Congress in one day,” Trump tweeted last week, without offering evidence to support his claim. “His Friday testimony was so untruthful! This whole deal is a Rigged Fraud headed up by dishonest people who would do anything so that I could not become President. They are now exposed!”
Trump then blasted him days later when the transcript was released, alleging he was untruthful.
Comey on Monday accused Trump of lying.
“The FBI’s reputation has taken a big hit because of Trump’s lies,” Comey said.
