Trey Gowdy Calls Out Inconsistencies Of FBI Director James Comey
“That’s a little different than …”
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., is calling out the inconsistencies of FBI Director James Comey’s management of the Hillary Clinton email investigation and the probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Gowdy on Wednesday if he agreed with Rep. Adam Schiff’s, D-Calif., suggestion that there was a “double standard” on Comey’s approach towards the two investigations.
“Comey spoke about Clinton & concealed Trump invest,” Schiff, the leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, tweeted Wednesday.
Gowdy agreed that there were inconsistencies in Comey’s approach, but didn’t respond to the allegation that there was a double standard.
“[Comey] told us at the end of the investigation that he was not going to pursue charges against Secretary Clinton,” Gowdy told the CNN anchor. “That’s a little different than having that conversation on the front end of the investigation.”
Gowdy noted that every aspect of the Clinton email investigation was “difficult.”
“Well, I think it was an unusual case. Keep in mind that [former Attorney General] Loretta Lynch recused herself, or at least removed herself. It wasn’t a formal recusal because she met on the tarmac with the spouse of a suspect of an ongoing investigation.”
Comey testified Wednesday that Lynch’s airport tarmac meeting with former President Bill Clinton forced him to assume the role of a prosecutor and recommend no charges against Hillary Clinton in a July 5 news conference, a responsibility typically reserved for the Justice Department.
With regards to the Russian interference probe, Comey made another “unusual” decision to announce the existence of an investigation on the front end, Gowdy noted.
“He told us last time we had a public hearing that there was an investigation, either intelligence or quasi-criminal investigation, into matters surrounding Russia’s efforts to interfere with our election,” Gowdy said.
“It’s unusual to have that press conference on the front end of an investigation,” he said.
Comey has stated on numerous occasions that the FBI does not comment on the existence of active investigations.
“I would never comment on investigations – whether we have one or not – in an open forum like this,” Comey said of a Russian investigation during a Congressional hearing in January.
Just two months later in a March Congressional hearing, Comey announced the existence of an FBI investigation into the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
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http://www.westernjournalism.com/trey-gowdy-calls-inconsistencies-fbi-director-james-comey/