South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham disagreed with President Trump’s assessment that the FBI’s reputation is in “tatters” and at its lowest point in history.
Trump tweeted earlier Sunday that former FBI Director James Comey’s time at the bureau has left it in a bad state. Graham, R-S.C., said on CBS’ “Face The Nation” Comey has questions he must answer but Trump’s assessment was wrong — and potentially dangerous when there’s an investigation ongoing.
“No. I think Comey needs to answer questions [about] his time as director. He made some decisions that were really very, very wrong,” Graham said. “I would just say this: There is ongoing criminal investigation, Comey may be part of it. He tweeted comment regard[ing] ongoing criminal investigations at your own peril. I’d be careful if I were you Mr. President, I’d watch this.”
Graham said Trump’s comments about Comey are coming at a time when he should be watching what he says publicly.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has now wrapped up Trump’s first national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who has promised to cooperate in the investigation in exchange for his cooperation.
Graham said Flynn is the person best placed to know if there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
“I’m not worried about what happened after the election in terms of trying to communicate with the Russians about the Israeli resolution or about sanctions,” he said. “It comes down to the following, to me: Was there any effort by the Trump campaign to coordinate with Russian intelligence services or any entity controlled by the Russians to receive benefit during the election? They found the one guy that would know that.”
