Former FBI Director James Comey admitted he was wrong to defend the FBI’s use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act process after he previously claimed vindication following the release of Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on his investigation into the origins of the 2016 Russia investigation.
Earlier this week, Horowitz released his report, which found that no political bias led to the opening of the investigation into alleged collusion between President Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia. He did, however, find 17 “significant errors or omissions” by FBI officials in obtaining FISA warrants to monitor onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
The report came after Comey claimed in 2018 that he had “total confidence that the FISA process was followed and that the entire case was handled in a thoughtful, responsible way by DOJ and the FBI.” Fox News Sunday host Chris Matthews grilled Comey on both his past comments and his recent “victory lap” after the report, claiming that he doesn’t believe the report vindicates anyone involved in the FBI’s performance.
Comey defended himself against allegations that the FBI committed “treason” and illegal surveillance of the Trump campaign, saying, “All of that was nonsense.” However, he later admitted Horowitz identified “real sloppiness” on the part of FBI agents.
“He also found things we were never accused of, which is real sloppiness, and that’s concerning. As I’ve said all along has to be focused on. If I were director, I’d be very concerned about it and diving into it,” he said. “He’s right; I was wrong. I was overconfident in the procedures that the FBI and Justice have built over 20 years years. I thought they were robust enough. It’s incredibly hard to get a FISA. I was overconfident in those because he’s right, there was real sloppiness.”
Following the release of the report, Comey claimed it vindicated DOJ and FBI employees and called for Attorney General William Barr to acknowledge “the truth.”
