A former top FBI official says James Comey does “damage” to the bureau every time he publicly condemns President Trump.
In a piece for USA Today, former FBI Assistant Director Mark Morgan, who is Trump’s pick to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement, deals harsh criticism of his former boss.
“He is telling the world now that he thinks the president is amoral. That opinion just didn’t come out of thin air on the day he was fired,” Morgan said. “As a former director of the FBI, when he speaks, he still brings the full force of credibility of that position, and so he’s not an average citizen when he speaks, and he knows that … Every time he speaks, every time he does an op-ed, he continues to do damage to the FBI.”
Morgan was citing a New York Times op-ed in which Comey called Trump an “amoral leader” who corrupted Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein over their rollout of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation.
Comey has spoken out several times in the past several weeks. He has repeatedly rebutted Barr’s assertion that “spying” occurred against the Trump campaign. He also participated in a CNN town hall Thursday evening, on the two-year anniversary of Trump firing him, during which he said “it sure looks like” Trump obstructed justice and would have been charged if he were not president.
Trump lashed out at Comey after the town hall ended. “James Comey is a disgrace to the FBI & will go down as the worst Director in its long and once proud history,” he tweeted. “He brought the FBI down, almost all Republicans & Democrats thought he should be FIRED, but the FBI will regain greatness because of the great men & women who work there!”
In his report Mueller details 10 instances in which Trump might have obstructed justice, but declines to say whether Trump committed a crime, citing a Justice Department guideline that sitting presidents cannot be indicted. Although Barr said he and Rosenstein determined that there is insufficient evidence to prove an obstruction crime, Democrats argue that Mueller’s report leaves it up to Congress to investigate and decide.
Comey, who left the Republican Party and has urged the public to vote for Democrats in 2020, says Mueller laid out a path for a future prosecutor to “take a serious look at charging” Trump after he is out of office.
Comey and the FBI have come under scrutiny for the handling of the Trump-Russia investigation, with allegations of politicization, improper surveillance, spying, and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse. Comey said on Thursday he is confident that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s investigation will not find that he or others around him at the FBI did anything wrong, but “if the truth was there was something concerning, then let’s hear it.”
