Fired FBI director James Comey insisted Wednesday that he was right to start investigating Donald Trump and his campaign over potential collusion with Russia saying: 'However could the FBI leave that alone?'
Comey told NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt that he stood by his decision in July 2016, despite Robert Mueller being revealed this weekend to have found no evidence of collusion.
In his first interview since Attorney General Bill Barr published a four-page summary of Mueller's report, Comey said he was 'confused' about how Trump came to be cleared of obstruction of justice, and about why the president had not been supoenaed for an interview by the special counsel.
He also accused Trump of a campaign to 'burn down an institution of justice because he saw it as a threat', and accused him of 'terrible' lies about himself, the FBI and Mueller.
'The investigation had to happen,' Comey said.
'It would have been irresponsible not to investigate. And we don't investigate, despite what the partisans say, to find a particular result. We investigate to find out what's true, and as best I can tell, looks like Bob Mueller was allowed to do that, and that's a great thing.'
Speaking out: James Comey broke his silence in an interview with Lester Holt which came just three days after Trump proclaimed himself 'exonerated' by Mueller
Trump declared himself 'exonerated' by the Mueller report's findings on Sunday and said 'no president should have to endure' a similar investigation.
But Comey fired back, saying the FBI had 'smoke' - and offered an analogy with the Iranians attempting to get Barack Obama elected which is certain to provoke fury in the Oval Office.
'There was smoke and enough smoke to justify investigating,' he said.
'Obviously there was overwhelming evidence the Russians were interfering in the election to hurt one candidate and he wanted other.
'Whether Americans were conspiring with him, I didn't know but we had to look at that.'
He went on: 'I don't know what people are thinking saying we shouldn't have investigated.
'Remember where this started. Late July of the election year, we knew the Russians were engaged in a massive effort to hurt Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump.
'And then we learn that a trump campaign adviser had spoken to a Russian operative about the dirt they had on Hillary Clinton. Before any of us knew anything about it. How on Earth would the FBI leave that alone?'
Asked by Holt to respond to Trump's demand that such an investigation should 'never, ever again happen to an American president, Comey hit back.
'Close your eyes. Again, change the names. Let me make one up for you. The Iranians - this is totally made up,' he said.
'The Iranians interfere in the election to help elect Barack Obama because they think they'll get a better nuclear deal from him.
'And during that election an Obama aide meets with the Iranians and talks about the dirt they have that will help Obama get elected. And the FBI finds out about that. We should not investigate that?
'And then president Obama's national security adviser lies to the FBI about his contacts with is Iranians, and then the president, Obama, asks me to drop an investigation of that and then fires me and says, "I was thinking of the Iranians then."
'Thing he invites the mullahs to the Oval Office and tells them, that FBI director was a real nutjob, I lifted a lot of pressure by firing him.
'Who on Earth doesn't think the FBI should investigate that in the hypocrisy is revealed just by changing the names? The FBI did what it absolutely had to do.'
Comey had already said that he can't 'quite understand' why Mueller let Donald Trump's attorney general decide whether the president obstructed justice.
Comey said Tuesday evening at a Queens University, in Charlotte, North Carolina, event that he found it baffling that Mueller left it up to the president's political appointees - Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein - to determine whether to prosecute Trump.
'The part that's confusing is, I can't quite understand what's going on with the obstruction stuff,' Comey said at the event, according to NBC News.
'And I have great faith in Bob Mueller, but I just can't tell from the letter why didn't he decide these questions when the entire rationale for a special counsel is to make sure the politicals aren't making the key charging decisions.'
Comey said Tuesday evening at a Queens University event that he found it baffling that Mueller left it up to the president's political appointees to determine whether to prosecute Donald Trump. Attorney General William Barr (right) opted not to
The former law enforcement official who Trump fired in May of 2017 is at the center of the accusation that the president obstructed justice.
Theories have abounded for years that Trump booted Comey to cover up his campaign's crimes, his business and personal connections to Russia, protect his children or hide other unethical behavior he didn't want the Department of Justice to uncover.
Mueller said in a letter to lawmakers that he could find no evidence to indicate that Trump is guilty of crimes.
He did not bring charges against anyone in Trump's inner circle or the president's children, either, which the president's attorneys have said is proof positive that the president has no motivation to impede the investigation.
Some Democrats are convinced that a broader investigation of the president's finances and businesses would reveal that Trump broke the law. The special counsel investigation was narrowly-tailored to a Russian-led conspiracy to disrupt the 2016 presidential election.
In a letter presenting Mueller's findings, new Attorney General Barr said it fell to him to decide whether Trump obstructed justice based on the special counsel's report and the underlying evidence.
Barr said he consulted with Rosenstein, and they determined together that the sitting president had no motive to obstruct the investigation that proved he wasn't guilty of collusion.
He said that 'to obtain and sustain an obstruction conviction, the government would need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person, acting with corrupt intent, engaged in obstructive conduct,' and he could not do that.
Comey said Tuesday night, in his first public remarks since the special counsel filed his final report, that he found Barr's reasoning 'really confusing' and would not necessarily have reached the same conclusion.
'The notion that obstruction cases are somehow undermined by the absence of proof of an underlying crime, that is not my experience in 40 years of doing this nor is it the Department of Justice's tradition. Obstruction crimes matter without regard to what you prove about the underlying crime,' Comey said.
Despite the president assailing him as a 'bad' and 'corrupt' cop, he insisted he wasn't hoping that Trump would get caught red handed.
'The good part is that the special counsel was allowed to finish his work and reached a conclusion; that's very, very important to this country,' Comey said. 'The Russians really did massively interfere with the 2016 election with the goal of damaging one candidate and helping the other. That was not a hoax. That was a real thing.'
https://hienalouca.com/2019/03/28/james-comey-says-he-was-right-to-start-russian-collusion-probe-into-trump/
Main photo article Fired FBI director James Comey insisted Wednesday that he was right to start investigating Donald Trump and his campaign over potential collusion with Russia saying: ‘However could the FBI leave that alone?’
Comey told NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt that he stood by his decision...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/03/27/22/11540816-6858007-image-m-27_1553727090779.jpg
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий