Lock him up?
The White House said Tuesday the U.S. Department of Justice should “certainly look at” a criminal prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey over his press leaks and Senate testimony.
“That’s the job of the Department of Justice, and something they should certainly look at,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said after reporters asked if President Trump believes Comey should be probed.
“I think if there’s ever a moment where we feel someone’s broken the law, particularly if they’re the head of the FBI, I think that’s something that certainly should be looked at.”
Trump, who fired Comey in May, has repeatedly accused the former FBI head of giving false testimony when he spoke to the Senate Intelligence Committee in June. But Trump has yet to pinpoint what, exactly, he believes Comey falsified.
Trump has also alleged Comey broke the law by admitting to leaking personal memos to a law professor friend at Columbia University, who then sent them to The New York Times. But Comey and his friend, Daniel Richman, have said none of the information was classified, which likely rules out any prosecution.
In his June testimony, Comey revealed he kept memos of his conversations with Trump because he worried about whether the President would be truthful about their discussions. Comey said Trump had pressured him to drop the federal investigation into Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser who resigned over Russia ties.
Comey came up in the White House’s press briefing Tuesday because of remarks from Stephen Bannon, the chief strategist Trump fired in August.
In a “60 Minutes” interview Sunday, Bannon called Trump’s firing of Comey the worst mistake in “modern political history.”
Bannon said Trump mistakenly believed axing Comey would cut off the investigation the federal investigation into the Trump campaign’s suspected Russian collusion. Instead, the probe fell into the hands of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who cannot be fired directly by Trump due to federal regulations for his position.
Sanders said Trump still believes he was “100% right” to nix Comey.
Comey and the Justice Department did not immediately comment.
