Rep. Jim Jordan said he is hopeful U.S. Attorney John Durham will center his investigation into the origins of the counterintelligence investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election on former FBI Director James Comey.
“The common denominator through all of that, the common guy, is Jim Comey,” Jordan said Tuesday on Fox News. “And I hope, I hope John Durham in his investigation is looking hard at holding Jim Comey accountable for all that this stuff that played out over the last three and a half years.”
Jordan listed key dates he said proves Comey sought to undermine President Trump.
“Think about three weeks in January of 2017,” Jordan said. “Jan. 3, Chuck Schumer announces, ‘If you mess with the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday to get back at you.’ Jan. 4, the very next day, Peter Strzok tells the two agents who want to drop any pursuit of Michael Flynn, he says, ‘No, no, no. Don’t drop it. Comey and McCabe want to continue to go after Michael Flynn.'”
The Republican from Ohio continued: “The next day, Jan. 5, they have the now-famous meeting in the White House where President Obama is in with Brennan, Clapper, Comey. After the meeting’s over, he pulls Comey aside, starts talking to him about Michael Flynn. The next day, Brian, Jan. 6, those same people — Brennan, Clapper, Comey — go to Trump Tower to talk to President-elect Trump, brief him. Comey sticks around afterwards to tell President Trump about the dossier, the dossier that Jim Comey already knows is false.”
Defenders of Trump such as Jordan have seized on news of the Justice Department dropping charges against Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his contacts with the Russian government but claimed later he was “innocent of this crime.”
Trump has fueled speculation that Obama was aware of an alleged effort to entrap Flynn, dubbing the FBI scandal “Obamagate.”
Flynn’s lead attorney, Sidney Powell, also said Obama “absolutely” played a role in the FBI effort to “frame” Flynn and has cited newly released documents that elicited questions about the extent to which Obama was aware of the actions taken by the FBI. Interview notes showed former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates was surprised in January 2017 to learn from Obama, not Comey, details about Flynn’s intercepted phone calls with the Russian diplomat.
Durham was appointed last year to head a criminal investigation into the origins of the Russia probe.
