Trump Slams Comey After IG Report Is Released, “He Should Be Ashamed of Himself”
The highly anticipated report from the Department of Justice’s inspector general was finally released on Thursday.
The report details James Comey’s handling of certain memos that documented the private conversations Comey had with the president.
“Perhaps never in the history of our Country has someone been more thoroughly disgraced and excoriated than James Comey in the just released Inspector General’s Report. He should be ashamed of himself!” Trump tweeted.
Perhaps never in the history of our Country has someone been more thoroughly disgraced and excoriated than James Comey in the just released Inspector General’s Report. He should be ashamed of himself!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2019
According to Fox News,
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham followed up with a statement calling Comey a “proven liar and leaker” — which Comey denied — and saying he “disgraced himself and his office to further a personal political agenda.”
The report documented numerous violations by the former FBI director, including giving one memo containing unclassified information to a friend with instructions to share the contents with a reporter, and failing to notify the FBI after he was dismissed in May 2017 that he had retained some of the memos in a safe at home.
Rep. Jim Jordan who is the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform said, “By leaking his confidential communications with the President in an attempt to save face in the wake of his firing, Mr. Comey believed he was above the rules of the DOJ. His actions were disgraceful and part of a wider effort within the Obama Justice Department to undermine President Trump.”
Now, James Comey is trying to pull a magic trick and misdirect Americans by only focusing on one portion of the report.
Comey tweeted, DOJ IG “found no evidence that Comey or his attorneys released any of the classified information contained in any of the memos to members of the media.” I don’t need a public apology from those who defamed me, but a quick message with a “sorry we lied about you” would be nice.
DOJ IG "found no evidence that Comey or his attorneys released any of the classified information contained in any of the memos to members of the media." I don’t need a public apology from those who defamed me, but a quick message with a “sorry we lied about you” would be nice.
— James Comey (@Comey) August 29, 2019
However, the report actually says the opposite. In fact, Rep. Doug Collins says that the findings in the report suggest that we need to dig deeper into what started the Russia investigation.
“This report confirms that James Comey violated the FBI’s own standards of conduct and was dishonest about how he handled classified material. This further cements the need for us to get to the root of how the Russia investigation began. It’s time to restore Americans’ confidence that federal law enforcement is committed to justice and free from political gamesmanship.”