Former South Carolina Republican Representative Trey Gowdy slammed disgraced former FBI Director James Comey on Sunday after Comey admitted that he was wrong about the FBI’s misconduct in surveilling the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“Let me kick it off with you, Trey, because you have done so much in the last three years along with your colleagues John Ratcliffe and Devin Nunes to really expose the truth,” Maria Bartiromo began. “Your reaction to what we’re hearing this morning in terms of when this investigation began, unlawful spying, and the informant thrown at the Trump campaign in early 2016?”
“Yeah, I mean, I think this morning, Comey admitted he was wrong. Sometimes, Maria, it’s better late than never and sometimes it’s just too damn late,” Gowdy responded. “Comey is about two years too late. We could have used his objectivity; we could have used him as head of the FBI helping Republicans figure out what was happening with FISA instead of thwarting us and obstructing us.”
“He said it was a policy and procedure issue. It’s not, Maria,” Gowdy continued. “[There have] always has been policies against manufacturing evidence and withholding exculpatory evidence. That’s not new; those aren’t new policies. This is a personnel issue. It’s the wrong people in the wrong positions of power. That’s not gonna be fixed with a new policy or procedure. It‘s gonna be fixed by replacing the people who did what they did in 2016.”
WATCH:
"Sometimes it's just too damn late and in this case, Comey's about two years too late."
On FOX Business with Maria Bartiromo, former Rep Trey Gowdy savages James Comey, even after his lame apology.
Kimberley Strassel notes what the media is missing in the IG report. pic.twitter.com/dIup364QS0
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) December 16, 2019
Comey was grilled on “Fox News Sunday” about the problems that occurred at the bureau under his watch and eventually admitted he was completely wrong about the FISA process being done correctly.
Fox News played the following back-to-back clips of comments from Department of Justice inspector general Michael Horowitz and Comey:
COMEY: I have total confidence that the FISA process was followed and that the entire case was handled in a thoughtful, responsible way by DOJ and the FBI.
HOROWITZ: We identified significant inaccuracies and omissions in each of the four applications, seven in the first application, and a total of 17 by the final renewal application.
“Seventeen significant errors in the FISA process and you say that it was handled in a thoughtful and appropriate way,” Wallace said to Comey after the two clips played.
“He’s right. I was wrong,” Comey responded. “I was overconfident in the procedures that the FBI and Justice had built over 20 years. I thought they were robust enough. It’s incredibly hard to get a FISA. I was overconfident in those. Because he’s right. There was real sloppiness, 17 things that either should’ve been in the applications or at least discussed and characterized differently. It was not acceptable and so he’s right. I was wrong.”
“But you make it sound like you’re a bystander, an eyewitness,” Wallace fired back. “You were the director of the FBI while a lot of this was going on, sir.”
Later in the interview, Wallace asked Comey, “If you were still there, and all of this came out, and it turned out it happened on your watch, would you resign?”
“No. I don’t think so,” Comey responded. “There are mistakes I consider more consequential than this during my tenure.”