FBI agents gave former Director James Comey consistently high marks in an internal survey, according to records released Wednesday, counter to President Donald Trump’s claims that he fired Comey because agents no longer had confidence in him.
The FBI released the results of its so-called “climate survey” from 2013–17 in response to a public records request filed by the New York Times.
According to Comey’s 2017 survey results, employees gave him a 4.47 rating when asked if they had “trust and confidence” in Comey as a leader, and gave him a 4.48 rating when asked if they would choose to work for him again. The FBI noted in its records release that “scores between 3.81 and 5 indicates success in those areas.”
Comey’s scores fluctuated slightly over his three-year tenure as FBI director and were at their lowest in the 2017 survey, but never dropped below the bureau’s defined range of “success.”
Comey “had no comment” for the New York Times.
When Trump abruptly fired Comey in May, he claimed Comey had “lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike.”
Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe refuted Trump’s claim days later in his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does to this day,” McCabe said.
Comey in June offered his own stinging rebuke of Trump’s claims, which he called “lies, plain and simple” in his own testimony before the Senate panel.
“Although the law requires no reason at all to fire an FBI director, the administration then chose to defame me and, more importantly, the FBI, by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the work force had lost confidence in its leader,” Comey said. “And I am so sorry that the FBI workforce had to hear them, and I’m so sorry the American people were told them.”
Trump also told Lester Holt he fired Comey because he was a “showboat.” Let’s not forget that pretext.
SuRvEy skEwed!
I wonder how 45 would have scored on that survey.
Of course, Trump was lying. There’s a simple test to see if he’s lying. If his lips are moving, he’s lying (yes, his lips move as he mouths the words while he’s keying his iPhone).
Recall when Sarah Huckabee Sanders said (at a presser) that she had received “many, many emails from FBI employees” stating a dislike of Comey and gratitude that he was gone?
That struck me as really weird.
Either this evangelical was lying through her teeth, or… or just maybe she actually had. Is it possible that some operative had arranged for her to receive these? Could it be that she was duped and thought she was telling the truth? Just a thought.
Makes a nicely layered conspiracy theory.