FBI Director James Comey on Monday refused to answer specific Democratic questions about former Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone, and Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort.
Democrats were eager to use Monday’s hearing about Russia’s influence over the November election to stress Trump’s alleged ties to Russia, but Comey repeatedly said he couldn’t talk about specific people.
For example, ranking member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., pushed Comey in the morning on whether he was aware of the role Stone played in Trump’s campaign.
“I’m not going to talk about any particular person here today, Mr. Schiff,” Comey said.
When Schiff asked if he was aware of the “dirty political tricks” Stone played in the campaign, or Stone’s connection to the hacker known as Guccifer 2.0, Comey said, “I have to give you the same answer.”
Schiff also pushed Comey on whether he was aware Stone was in touch with WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, to which Comey replied, “same answer.”
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., tried moments later with questions about Manafort and whether he registered as a foreign agent in his role as a lobbyist for Ukraine.
“That’s not something I can comment on,” Comey said.
“Mr. Himes, I really don’t want to get into answering questions about any individual U.S. person,” Comey added later. “It’s obvious from the public record but I don’t want to start down the road of answering questions about somebody.”
