Fired FBI Director James Comey suggested Wednesday special counsel Robert Mueller could be nearing the end of his federal Russia investigation.
“The way you normally do investigations is you work from the bottom up, and so they’re getting pretty high,” Comey said Wednesday during an interview with St. Louis Public Radio.
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s conviction by a Virginia federal court in August and his entering of a guilty plea in his Washington case in September “may represent that we’re in the fourth quarter,” Comey added.
“But again, the reason I’m hesitant to even say that is [because] Bob Mueller’s conducted his investigation like a pro — you know nothing about it except through his public filings, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Comey said. “And so I can’t say with certainty where he is.”
Comey’s comments come after President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani told CNN this month that his team only had minor changes to a proposal from Mueller’s office regarding the parameters for Trump’s testimony for the Russia probe. Pundits speculated that also meant Mueller was in the final stages of his inquiry.
Comey said Wednesday he isn’t worried about the release of his texts and emails while head of the FBI after Trump ordered the Justice Department and the bureau Monday to declassify key materials from the FBI’s Russia probe.
“I have a separate worry which is institutional, and I really hope the Department of Justice and the FBI look at this closely,” he continued. “You don’t want to do anything in disclosing information that’s connected to an intelligence investigation that would either screw up pending investigations or send a message to future sources that we can’t be trusted to protect you.”
Trump dismissed Comey in May 2017 as he was leading the FBI’s inquiry into connections between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
Mueller is expected to deliver a report on his findings to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein at the conclusion of his probe. Rosenstein then may release the report to Congress or the general public.
