C-SPAN “Washington Journal” host Greta Brawner countered a liberal caller’s claim on Friday that James Comey served honorably as FBI director.

A federal grand jury indicted Comey on Thursday for allegedly lying in testimony to Congress in 2020 about his role in leaking information to the media in violation of FBI policy, just months after President Donald Trump took office for his first term.

BREAKING: Full text of former FBI Director James Comey’s indictment has been released:

COUNT 1: “On or about September 30, 2020, JAMES B. COMEY JR., did willfully and knowingly make a materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement in a matter within the jurisdiction of… pic.twitter.com/SlnGhrs7U8

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 25, 2025

A caller on the Democrat line, who identified himself as David, said to Brawner, “I think that, you know, Comey, his record speaks for itself. He was a very honorable man who served his country. He did everything by the book. I think he was the prime example of someone you want to direct the FBI.”

“Now, currently, we have Kash Patel, who I think is a complete idiot. He’s sick. He’s a sick man in that position and unqualified. And for Trump to go after Comey at this point is very obvious, the trail that led up to this, and his feelings about Comey. And the only mistake Comey ever made was getting involved with Trump,” he added.

Patel is a former federal prosecutor who also served as lead counsel for the House Select Committee on Intelligence. During Trump’s first term, he led the counterterrorism efforts as a member of the National Security Council and later was deputy director of National Intelligence.

Democratic caller: Comey “did everything by the book.”

C-SPAN host: “This is the AP back in 2019: According to inspector general watchdog, Comey… ‘violated FBI policies in his handling of memos documenting private conversations with President Trump.'”pic.twitter.com/vYdKNiQQbK

— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) September 26, 2025

Brawner countered the caller’s claim regarding Comey’s supposed honorable service, saying, “Well, David, how do you respond to this? This is the Associated Press back in 2019: according to the inspector general watchdog, Comey violated FBI policies in handling of memos.”

“And this is what the inspector general found,” she continued, reading from the Associated Press story, “Violated FBI policies in his handling of memos documenting private conversations with President Trump. The watchdog office said Comey broke bureau rules by giving one memo containing unclassified information to a friend with instructions to share the content with a reporter.”

“Comey also failed to return his memos to the FBI after he was dismissed in May of 2017, retaining copies of some of them in a safe at home, and shared them with his personal lawyers without permission from the FBI,” Brawner said.

This is the exchange laid out in the indictment that claims former FBI Director James Comey lied to a U.S. Senator during a Judiciary Committee hearing:

Cruz: “On May 3, 2017, in this committee Chairman Grassley asked you point blank … ‘Have you ever authorized someone else at… pic.twitter.com/lfrJJpR7g2

— Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) September 26, 2025

She further noted that the Associated Press said the inspector general’s 2019 report was “the second in as many years to criticize Comey’s actions as FBI director, following a separate inspector general rebuke for decisions made during the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.”

Brawner highlighted that there were multiple inspector general investigations concluding that several FBI policies were violated during Comey’s tenure.

“David, you said Comey didn’t make any mistakes,” she said, waiting to hear his response.

“That was the cost of doing business,” he replied.

The caller further argued that Trump allegedly had classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and did not face consequences.

A Florida grand jury indicted Trump in June 2023, but the case was ultimately dismissed in July 2024 after the court determined the Biden Justice Department lacked the authority to appoint Jack Smith as special counsel without Senate approval.

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