According to one GOP congressman, James Comey isn’t off the hook for his misdeeds just yet.
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Friday that he does “believe that James Comey will be held accountable.” Could we soon be seeing the former FBI director behind bars?
“Petty and vindictive”
The congressman’s comments came during Friday’s episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight. Nunes and Carlson were discussing a recent article from The Hill’s John Solomon, who reported that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has decided not to prosecute James Comey on charges related to leaking classified information.
“The IG [Inspector General Michael Horowitz], supposedly, according to Solomon’s sources made a recommendation [for prosecution],” Nunes said. But Carlson had reported earlier in the show that Comey would “never be tried for the crimes he committed.”
“According to The Hill’s John Solomon, citing a source, the DOJ has decided not to prosecute James Comey on the grounds that punishing him for breaking the law would seem, quote, ‘petty and vindictive,'” Carlson said.
Not so fast, Mr. Comey
However, according to Nunes, “just because the DOJ is not going to act under that recommendation does not mean he is not going to be further looked at.” Nunes went on to explain that both members of Congress and, likely, the IG have referred a host of individuals — a list that Nunes suggested includes Comey — for criminal prosecution to the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, who will decide how to proceed.
“So, they’re [the DOJ] not going to act on any of our referrals,” Nunes continued. “Those have all been given to the U.S. attorney in Connecticut. My guess is, the same holds true for the IG, everything is going to be given to the attorney in Connecticut.”
With that, Nunes contends, justice is coming for the former FBI director.
“I do believe that James Comey will be held accountable,” Nunes said. “If I was James Comey, I wouldn’t be walking in the cornfields of Iowa yet running for president.”
Going to jail
Carlson seems to share that view. Just before introducing Nunes as his guest, the Fost host offered a rundown of Comey’s alleged crimes before suggesting that accountability for the ex-FBI chief is on the horizon.
“Shortly before he was fired from the FBI, Comey wrote memos describing his private meetings with his boss, the president. Comey then leaked those memos. Some of them contained classified information — that is a crime. How do we know it’s a crime? Well, Comey himself conceded that in an interview,” Carlson said before showing clips from a recent interview between the former FBI director and CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
And according to Carlson, a lot of “people are going to jail for less than that.”
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