Addressing the Justice Department inspector general’s report on former FBI Director James Comey’s habit of taking personal notes on his meeting with Donald Trump — which he subsequently leaked to friends — a former FBI agent said it was hard to criticize Comey since the president was asking him to break the law.
Speaking with CNN “New Day” hosts John Berman and Julia Chatterley on Friday, attorney Asha Rangappa, who served as a special agent in the FBI, said Comey was caught up on Trump’s “crazy train.”
ADVERTISEMENT
With regard to the fact that the former FBI director didn’t take his concerns about Trump entreaties to interfere with a criminal investigation directly to the Justice Department, Rangappa noted that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions had recused himself from the case and that Comey was worried about a cover-up.
“This was a case where he [Comey] was on the crazy train,” she added. “Where he was being asked to commit crimes and to engage in the potential obstruction of justice.”
“I think that there was a sense that, only by making this public and creating some public pressure, would this result in the appointment of a special counsel,” she explained. “I think there are fair criticisms over whether this was the right way to go, but there is actually no manual for how one deals with being asked by the president to commit a federal crime.”
Watch below:
ADVERTISEMENT
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. And unlike other news outlets, we’ve decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.
Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Unhinged from billionaires and corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.
… then let us make a small request. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We need your support to do what we do.
Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.
Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) has demanded that Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) postpone a scheduled House Judiciary Committee hearing slated for Monday after being blindsided by a massive report from the Democrats on the committee making the case for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
According to Newsmax, Collins -- who has become one of the president's main surrogates opposing ouster of the president -- fired back at the Democrats over their Saturday release of thousands of pages of documents to be considered from the House impeachment investigation.
Digging back into the archives, Politico reveals that President Donald Trump appears to be re-purposing the advice he suggested to Bill Clinton when the embattled Democratic president faced impeachment 21 years ago.
According to the report, Trump made an appearance on NBC's Hardball during the Clinton impeachment saga, where he told host Chris Matthews that Clinton needed to "go after his enemies," which has, to date, been Trump's main response to his own impeachment.
According to a report from the Miami Herald, President Donald Trump was accompanied by two convicted war criminals he recently pardoned when we held a closed-door fundraiser in Florida on Saturday night.
The report states that Trump's appearance at Republican Party of Florida's annual Statesman’s Dinner, where he helped raise $3.5 million for the state party, was held in extreme secrecy with the "1,000 attendees were required to check their cell phones into individual locked cases before they entered the unmarked ballroom."