Comey: House Intel Republicans’ Report ‘Strikes Me As A Political Document’

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Former FBI Director James Comey on Sunday called House Intelligence Committee Republicans’ report on Russian election meddling — in which they claimed to have found no evidence that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia during the 2016 election — “a political document.”

During an interview with Comey Sunday, NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd asked Comey if he believed the report “proves what the President says it proves. He claims that this report proves there’s no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated or conspired with Russia, and that it was all a big hoax by the Democrats based on payments and lies.”

Comey, on a media tour promoting his new book, said that was “not my understanding of what the facts were before I left the FBI, and I think the most important piece of work is the one the Special Counsel’s doing now.”

“This strikes me as a political document,” he added. 

Todd asked if the House Intelligence Committee “at all [served] a good investigative purpose during all this, in your observations?”

“Not that I can see,” Comey said.

“Just totally got too politicized?” Todd asked.

“Yeah,” Comey answered. “And it wrecked the committee, and it damaged relationships with the FISA Court, the intelligence communities. It’s just a wreck.”

Trey Gowdy, though partially a target of Comey’s attack Sunday, responded in a separate interview by saying “From the standpoint of where these matters are best investigated, I don’t think it’s in Congress right now.” He added later that he was “awaiting the Mueller investigation.”

Watch below via NBC:

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: