Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) asserted that former FBI director James Comey should be imprisoned for abusing his power as the head of the federal investigative agency.
Paul appeared on Fox News on Wednesday during coverage of President Joe Biden’s inauguration. After a question from Fox anchor Bill Hemmer, Paul tore into Comey for saying that the Republican Party needed to be “burned down or changed” after President Trump left the White House.
“When we start taking advice from Comey, a notorious liar, a guy who ruined the FBI, a guy -who used the enormous power of government to go after his political opponent, Donald Trump, I think when we started taking his advice, we’re taking the wrong advice,” Paul said. “And so I don’t plan on listening to anything from Comey. In fact, I think Comey should be in prison for the things that he did.”
On Tuesday, The Guardian published an interview with Comey in which the former FBI head called for the GOP to reform itself, and placed blame for the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol on then-President Trump. Comey called for the creation of a “9/11-type commission” to investigate the riot.
“I was sickened to watch an attack on the literal and symbolic heart of our democracy, and, as a law enforcement person, I was angered. I am mystified and angry that Capitol Hill wasn’t defended,” Comey said. “It’s a hill! If you wanted to defend it, you could defend it, and for some reason it was not defended. I think that’s a 9/11-size failure and we’re going to need a 9/11-type commission to understand it so that we don’t repeat it.”
The former FBI head said that the Republican Party is “built on lies and racism and know-nothingism.”
“The Republican Party needs to be burned down or changed. Something is shifting and I’m hoping it’s the fault breaking apart, a break between the Trumpists and those people who want to try and build a responsible conservative party, because everybody should know that we need one,” Comey said. “Who would want to be part of an organization that at its core is built on lies and racism and know-nothingism? It’s just not a healthy political organization.”
Last week, Paul advised Republicans against siding with the ongoing push to impeach and convict Trump for allegedly inciting the riot at the Capitol, even after he has left office. House Democrats and a handful of Republicans impeached Trump last week, and the article has been sent to the Senate for trial.
“I just don’t understand how they can be moving forward with this,” Paul said on Fox News last week. “And look, I’m not just saying I’m for everything President Trump has done. I was for seating the electors because I think Congress shouldn’t overturn the state electors. But at the same time, the thing they are doing is an overreaction, and if they think they’re going to have a positive feeling from the public when they’re going to go through a partisan impeachment again, I think that’s absolutely insane and wrongheaded.”