Speaking on MSNBC, former FBI Director James Comey attacked former President Donald Trump, saying that the FBI and Justice Department would be in danger if Trump is elected.
Comey said that in the current Trump court case “the rule of law in this country, especially the court system, has passed its stress test, slow on the federal side, but this is a great example for our people.”
“You say it’s passed its stress test,” MSNBC host Alex Wagner stated. “Are you concerned that it may get a test unlike any other if Donald Trump is re-elected? I mean, when you think about a second Trump administration, what do you think the implications would be for the FBI?”
“Serious,” Comey answered. “For the Justice Department and the FBI, because Trump is coming for those institutions. He knows their power and I think he has regrets that he didn’t work hard enough to corrupt them last time. So he’s coming for them and that’s a danger for all Americans. He’s gonna put people in positions in those organizations. He didn’t have All-Stars last time; he’ll have the bottom of the barrel this time … people who will want to do his will and that should worry every American. This election matters because of a reason like that. “
Comey then turned to his election pitch: “People have to participate. You cannot sit on the sidelines. I don’t care how you feel about Joe Biden, you must vote for him because the consequences on the other side are too severe.”
In June 2018, ABC News reported that the Justice Department’s internal watchdog, Inspector General Michael Horowitz, concluded that when Comey served as FBI Director, he defied authority. A source informed ABC News that the draft report explicitly used the word “insubordinate.”
“The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated this investigation, following a referral from the FBI, after the FBI determined that Comey may have shared memos that contained classified information with individuals outside the FBI,” the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) stated, adding:
The OIG determined that Comey violated applicable policies and his FBI Employment Agreement by providing one of the unclassified memos that contained official FBI information, including sensitive investigative information, to his friend with instructions for the friend to share the contents of the memo with a reporter. Additionally, the OIG determined that Comey, while FBI Director, kept copies of four of the seven memos in a personal safe at his home and, after his removal as FBI Director, violated FBI policies and his FBI Employment Agreement by failing to notify the FBI that he had retained them, or to seek authorization to retain them.
Comey likewise violated applicable policies and his FBI Employment Agreement by providing copies, following his removal as FBI Director, of the four memos he had kept in his home to his three private attorneys without FBI authorization. Comey also failed to fulfill his obligation to immediately alert the FBI about his disclosures to his private attorneys once he became aware that the FBI, after Comey’s removal, had determined that one of the memos included several words, the names of foreign countries being discussed by the President, that were classified at the CONFIDENTIAL level.