Tucker Carlson ‘Comey Never Should Have Been FBI Director — He’s Too Partisan’
Source: https://goo.gl/aHwDo8
Monday on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” host Tucker Carlson railed against former FBI Director James Comey, who was coming off an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos a night earlier to get off his book tour.
According to Carlson, that interview revealed Comey’s partisan stripes and showed that he should have never been FBI director.
Transcript as follows:
CARLSON: Tonight, the full transcript of former FBI Director Jim Comey’s interview with George Stephanopoulos has been released. It’s a massive interview, clocking in at more than five hours. And it’s deeply revealing.
By now, you’ve probably heard a lot about what Comey has had to say about Donald Trump and not very much of that was newsworthy, it turned out.
The real value of this interview is what it says about James Comey. By the end, you realize that Comey never should have been FBI director. He’s too partisan. Trump’s main mistake was in not firing him on inauguration day.
In his interview with ABC, Comey defends his prosecution of Martha Stewart, who – you’ll remember – went to jail for lying to federal prosecutors. He then attacks General David Petraeus.
According to Comey, Petraeus should have faced far more than a lone charge for mishandling classified information. He should have gone to prison for lying.
In Comey’s words, lying “strikes at the heart of our rule of law in this country.” Fair enough. The power should be held accountable for their misdeeds.
But then, Comey goes on to talk about the Marc Rich case. Do you remember that? On his way out of office, Bill Clinton sold a presidential pardon to a wanted felon who had fled the county.
Comey is unambiguous about that case. “I’ve never heard of another case where a fugitive from justice was pardoned.” So, Stephanopoulos then asks the obvious question. “Did you draw any conclusions about the Clintons, about Hillary Clinton from those experiences?” Comey’s response? No, none at all.
Selling a presidential pardon to a fugitive says nothing whatsoever about the Clintons or their character. And, by the way, Comey goes on to say that Hillary Clinton is awfully smarter and hardworking.
Loretta Lynch gets the same soft treatment. Comey concedes that as attorney general Lynch did, in fact, pressure him to describe the Hillary email as a “matter” rather than what it actually was, a criminal investigation.
Did Comey spot this obvious effort to politicize justice? Nope, not even close.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS CHIEF ANCHOR (voice-over): His first concern when she told him to refer to the Clinton e-mail controversy as a matter rather than an investigation.
(on-camera): Did you think she was doing that to protect Hillary Clinton?
JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: I didn’t know. It worried me. It gave me an uncomfortable feeling because the Clinton campaign had been trying to come up with other words to describe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: You know, I don’t know, says Jim Comey. Comey doesn’t know if Lynch was trying to protect Hillary Clinton. He doesn’t want to draw any conclusions from that. He has no idea if the attorney general was behaving politically when she told him to parrot the Clinton campaign’s talking points.
Comey goes on to say Loretta Lynch is a very smart and good person whom he respects very much.
You remember, in the middle of all of this saga, President Obama publicly and repeatedly dismissed the entire Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation as a nothing-burger. Of course, Hillary did nothing wrong, Obama said.
Well, Comey concedes that Obama is a very smart lawyer and he should have known better than to weigh-in on an active investigation as president. The president shouldn’t do that.
“Do you think Obama was trying to color the case, Stephanopoulos asked.
Once again, Comey replies, “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
Well, there’s a theme here. Again and again, partisan Democrats get every benefit of every doubt from Jim Comey. He can’t rush to conclusions. That is until he sees the white circles under Donald Trump’s eyes. Then he’s happy to speculate.
Comey says repeatedly that lying is what bothers him most. He’s devoted his life to fighting against dishonesty. That’s why he wrote the book, he says.
But Comey also says that former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is the public servant he admires most. That’s right. The very same James Clapper who lied to Congress, falsely claiming that intelligence agencies don’t spy on Americans when he knew perfectly well that they do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?
JAMES CLAPPER, THEN DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: No, sir