James Comey won’t be prosecuted for leaking, but he’s not in the clear yet, Devin Nunes (R-CA) told Breitbart.
In a stunning rebuke, the Department of Justice’s internal watchdog accused Comey of setting a “dangerous” example by seeking to create “public pressure” for an investigation of Donald Trump by leaking sensitive information to the press. The DOJ declined to prosecute Comey over the leaks, but Nunes said that Comey can still face charges in U.S. attorney from Connecticut John Durham’s probe into the Russia hoax.
“So this is a guy who is definitely not telling the truth, and the good thing about the IG report is he’s now made himself, the IG has now made him eligible for a larger conspiracy charge—a criminal conspiracy charge—which is what we really hope the attorney general [U.S. attorney] out of Connecticut is able to do,” Nunes said. “That’s the big thing that we need. We need real charges brought.”
Nunes: Comey can still face charges
The scathing IG report, released last week, found that the former FBI director violated his employment agreement by keeping and secretly leaking memos of conversations he had with Trump. Despite the scabrous findings, Comey demanded an apology, apparently convinced that he’s untouchable.
Speaking with Breitbart, Nunes said that Comey can still face criminal charges, with the IG report on the leaks forming the basis of a conspiracy case. Nunes said that the IG report lays out clear evidence of a plot by Comey that can be used to prosecute him if the DOJ takes up criminal referrals that Nunes sent to the DOJ earlier this year.
“I always remind people that the Inspector General does not have a lot of power because they cannot—they don’t have subpoena power,” Nunes said. “They can only interview people who work for the actual agency, unless people will voluntarily be interviewed, which is not likely. So, I think the Inspector General did us a favor here because the House Intelligence Committee Republicans—we sent over referrals to the Department of Justice based on conspiracy. So now there is no question, one thing the Inspector General made clear by all the interviews and evidence that he gathered is that Comey is definitely part of the conspiracy.”
Nunes recalled that Comey was dodgy in his testimony behind closed doors to Republicans, repeatedly saying that he “couldn’t recall” information. The Republican also acknowledged that Comey would “probably skate” if prosecuted because of the “ambiguity” of the memos, some of which contained classified information and others of which did not. Still, Nunes was cautiously optimistic that “there is evidence” that Comey was heavily involved in the alleged conspiracy to take down Trump.
“If [Durham] looks at conspiracy, on the FISA courts and the manipulation of intelligence for political purposes, it is now impossible—there is so much evidence that puts Comey right in the middle of this—so that’s my point. If they’re going to go down that road, Comey has got to be involved in it. The evidence is there.”
U.S. attorney must answer questions about Russiagate
In separate interviews with Fox, Nunes has pointed to Comey’s January 2017 dossier briefing with Trump as proof of impropriety. The IG report revealed that Comey planned to collect evidence on president-elect Trump for the FBI’s ongoing Russia investigation during the meeting. Comey never told Trump that he was keeping memos, and he told Trump that he was not under investigation at that briefing.
Nunes, who is ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, has played a starring role over the past two-plus years in probing anti-Trump bias at the highest levels of U.S. intelligence. Nunes and others have alleged that Comey conspired with a cabal of high-ranking intelligence bureaucrats to take down Donald Trump with a political investigation based on an infamous, salacious dossier paid for in part by the Democrats and the Clinton campaign. Nunes sent eight criminal referrals to the DOJ earlier this year, two of which allege conspiracy, accusing “Deep State” actors of intelligence abuses.
While Comey wasn’t charged over the memo leaks, right-leaning authors including The Hill’s John Solomon have said to expect that Comey will face accountability when the next, much-hyped IG report is released. That report covers alleged FISA abuses in the origins of the Russia probe, which are also being investigated by Durham.
Regardless of whether Comey is charged, Nunes is hoping that Barr and Durham will answer pressing questions about how the phony Russia investigation began. “Attorney General made the right decision as long as they continue to press on the larger issue which is: How did this whole investigation begin in the first place with zero evidence, zero evidence that Trump had any involvement with Russia?” he asked.
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