During a segment on CNN’s “The Lead With Jake Tapper” on Tuesday, Federalist senior writer Mary Katharine Ham called out former FBI director James Comey for lying.
“It is also incredibly problematic to have a narrative that does not allow the questioning, and the skepticism of someone like a Mueller — who I actually have confidence in — but then you get down to Comey,” Ham said.
Comey has publicly stated that he did not know Hillary Clinton would not face any charges for criminal wrongdoing before the FBI interviewed her about her use of a private, unsecured, e-mail server during her tenure as secretary of State.
“Comey has been contradicted by some of these texts about when Loretta Lynch knew this information,” she said. “I don’t know why we have to assume he is the only honest man in Washington at all times.”
From text messages between two FBI agents seized after revelations of their conflicts of interest in the case, it appears the agency may have been aware that Clinton would not be indicted for her e-mail server before they interviewed her — which contradicts what Comey testified under oath before Congress. These agents were ultimately removed from the ongoing investigation into whether Donald Trump and his campaign associates colluded with Russian officials to sway the 2016 election after anti-Trump messages between the two were discovered.
“[Former Director of National Intelligence James] Clapper is another example,” Ham continued. “He has admitted that he lied to Congress about surveilling the American people. Yet we’re told that when he talks about the Russia investigation that everything he says must be taken at face value and never questioned. So that hinders our critical assessment of this investigation as well.”
