FBI Director Kash Patel early Friday denied any wrongdoing by the bureau in bringing charges against his predecessor, James Comey, as the Trump administration faces criticism for going after a top foe of the president.
Comey was indicted on two charges late Thursday, both stemming from an appearance he made before Congress in 2020 to discuss the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign.
The charges were brought after the U.S. attorney overseeing the matter resigned amid concerns over the evidence in the case and after President Trump publicly pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to bring charges against Comey and other perceived adversaries.
Patel defended the FBI’s role in the investigation, blaming criticism of the case on the media.
“Career FBI agents, intel analysts, and staff led the investigation into Comey and others. They called the balls and strikes and will continue to do so. The wildly false accusations attacking this FBI for the politicization of law enforcement comes from the same bankrupt media that sold the world on Russia Gate- it’s hypocrisy on steroids,” he wrote on X.
Comey has denied the allegations in the indictment, which have set off a firestorm of criticism.
“My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system. And I’m innocent. So let’s have a trial,” he said in a video he shared late Thursday.
Democratic lawmakers aired a number of concerns about the case, including that charges were brought just days before the five-year statute of limitations on potential charges was set to run out and that they were filed by a Trump appointee installed after the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Seibert, was forced out.
And the grand jury that reviewed the matter rejected one of the three proposed counts related to Comey’s testimony, bucking a tendency of grand juries to rubber stamp charges.
“Today, after firing his own choice for U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, Donald Trump finally got a subservient new replacement to carry out his revenge prosecution against former FBI Director James Comey by bringing baseless criminal charges against him,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said in a Thursday night statement.
“He forced Mr. Seibert to resign in order to replace him with one of his former defense attorneys, Lindsey Halligan, who has literally no prosecutorial experience but is clearly willing to blindly carry out the president’s orders. As if by magic, within mere days of being appointed, Ms. Halligan delivered for the president by filing the exact baseless charges against Mr. Comey that her predecessor had rejected.”
The accusations against Comey stem from an exchange between Comey and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Cruz asked Comey if he had ever authorized a leak about the FBI’s investigations into Hillary Clinton’s emails and connections between the Trump campaign and Russia.
The question zeroed in on conflicting accounts between Comey and his former deputy, Andrew McCabe, regarding a leak to The Wall Street Journal about the Clinton investigation days before the 2016 election.
McCabe has indicated Comey knew about and authorized the leak. Comey maintains he was unaware and that McCabe in a conversation after the story published implied the director, too, wasn’t involved.
A 2018 inspector general report sided with Comey’s account, saying McCabe authorized the leak and “lacked candor” when he told his boss and later investigators that he didn’t.