House Republicans are running out of time as they push to investigate the Justice Department and FBI’s actions just before the 2016 presidential election.
Incoming House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said Friday that the investigation, which began in fall 2017, will end in January when Democrats gain control of the House.
“It’s a waste of time to start with and there’s nothing. The entire purpose of this investigation is to cast aspersions on the real investigation, which is Mueller. There is no evidence whatsoever of bias at the FBI or any other of this nonsense they are talking about,” the New York Democrat told reporters Friday morning, calling it a “fishing expedition.”
The comments came as former FBI Director James Comey began what was expected to be a day-long closed-door deposition to the GOP-led House Judiciary and Oversight Committees.
But leaving the testimony at around 4:30 p.m., Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, indicated that the Republican leadership will keep the investigation going until the last minute.
Jordan told reporters that Comey will “coming back in two weeks” — which means the Friday before Christmas — to answer more questions.
Comey had originally fought the deposition, arguing that it should be a public hearing, and even bringing the fight to the courts.
“Don’t do it in a dark corner and don’t do it in a way where all you do is leak information,” Comey’s attorney David Kelley said.
[Byron York: Ten questions for James Comey]
But over the weekend, Comey caved and said he would appear and agreed with outgoing Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., that the transcript of the deposition would be released “as soon as possible … in the name of our combined desire for transparency.”
Most Republicans coming in and out of Friday’s deposition said they would not comment on what Comey said until the transcript gets release. Jordan indicated that would happen sometime Saturday.
Leaving after nearly seven hours of testimony, Comey chided GOP for asking questions about Hillary Clinton’s emails.
“We were talking bout Hillary Clinton’s emails, for heaven’s sake,” he told reporters. “So I’m not sure we needed to do this at all.”
A transcript of the interview “will bore you,” Comey added.
Comey declined to answer questions on if he is cooperating with Mueller’s investigation, but confirmed he would return the week of Dec. 17.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., joked to reporters that he brought a copy of Comey’s book, A Higher Loyalty, and was hoping the former FBI director could sign it so he could then “auction it off to pay for this wasteful investigation.”
A staffer was seen leaving the room where the deposition was given with a copy of the novel on top of a box.
Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., said that FBI attorneys intervened in Comey’s answers but a few times, and he generally answered most of the questions. Gomez added that the deposition was a “waste of time” and that Republicans focused on perceived bias against President Trump.
Democrats have consistently called the GOP investigation a means to distract from and undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference and possible connections to the Trump campaign, which he took over in May 2017.
Despite the end to their inquiry looming, Republicans on the committee were upbeat and excited about questioning Comey. Jordan said he had a “whole notebook of questions” and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said he brought “14 pages of questions.”
When asked why the committees would not allow Comey to testify publicly as he wanted, Meadows said it was because they may discuss classified information, and a public testimony “would be giving him a pass that I don’t think he deserves.”
Jordan echoed those sentiments and said Comey’s closed-door deposition is “the 16th one I’ve done like this, so I think this is the right way to do it.”
Other witnesses who have given closed-door depositions to the GOP-led task force include the high-profile interviews of former FBI official Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
The two worked on both the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server, as well as the investigation into Russian election interference — and were also having an extramarital affair.
Strzok and Page were also detailed to Mueller’s inquiry, but they were removed after it was revealed they exchanged disparaging messages about then-candidate Donald Trump.
Walking into the interview, Comey was asked by reporters if he is “best friends” with Mueller — an accusation that Trump said on Twitter early Friday.
“Note that I smiled,” replied Comey.
Trump tweeted Friday afternoon that Comey was allegedly told by Justice Department attorneys not to answer some questions, and called it “total bias and corruption at the highest levels of [the] previous Administration.” Trump added that lawmakers should force Comey to answer questions under oath.
Friday’s appearance on Capitol Hill was Comey’s first since June 2017.
