Former FBI Director James Comey finally admitted on “Fox News Sunday” that the Inspector General report on FISA abuse wasn’t as vindicating as he’d previously suggested. He still defended the FBI’s handling of the investigation but said he’d been “overconfident” when he defended the FBI’s use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
When the report came out last week, Comey posted the following tweet claiming vindication.
So it was all lies. No treason. No spying on the campaign. No tapping Trumps wires. It was just good people trying to protect America. https://t.co/9nurCaIBq2
— James Comey (@Comey) December 9, 2019
Comey himself must not have read the report at the time, and later watched Horowitz’s testimony. Because the report detailed many “significant errors and omissions” by the FBI—including the actual altering of a document by an FBI lawyer—while applying for a warrant to spy on Carter Page. Altering a document isn’t exactly an “error” nor is Comey misrepresenting the role of the bogus Steele dossier in obtaining the warrant. But, I digress.
Further, the report referred “the entire chain of command” to the FBI and DOJ for “how to assess and address their performance failures” during the investigation. Since Comey was at the top of the FBI at the time, that includes him. And, as Horowitz testified last week, “The activities we found here don’t vindicate anyone who touched this.”
“He’s right, I was wrong,” Comey said about the FBI’s handling of the FISA process on his watch. As fulfilling as it is for him to admit this, it is not exactly the mea culpa we deserve. Comey added, “I was overconfident as director in our procedures.”
Overconfident?
The FISA process included 17 “significant errors and omissions” and Comey was just being “overconfident” and we’re supposed to sit here and say, “Okay, you’re bad,” and move on? I don’t think so.
Here’s a clip of the show:
Exclusively on FOX News Sunday: Chris Wallace asks Former FBI Director James Comey if the IG Report vindicates him. Director Comey responds to previous statements he made in 2018 about the Carter Page FISA warrant being handled appropriately: "There was real sloppiness." pic.twitter.com/vPmCV11hRe
— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) December 15, 2019
Despite admitting he “was wrong” Comey didn’t accept responsibility for using the bogus Steele dossier to obtain the FISA warrant. He claimed it was “not a huge part of the presentation to the court,” but then acknowledged “it was the one that convinced the lawyers” to move forward. He also still attempted to argue with Chris Wallace that the Steele dossier was true. Can you believe it?
And we’re supposed to believe there was no bias during the investigation?
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Matt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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