President Donald Trump's desire to force a public "perp-walk" of former FBI Director James Comey is an astounding low of immaturity, MSNBC anchor and former Republican Party chairman Michael Steele said on Friday's edition of "The Weeknight."
Comey, whom Trump has long resented for refusing to terminate the Russia investigation on his behalf as soon as he took office, is being charged with false statements and obstruction of justice, based on testimony he gave to the Senate years ago. Legal experts have panned the case as baseless, with some pointing out that the indictment doesn't correctly quote his statements.
On Friday, it was reported that an FBI agent at the Washington, D.C., field office was relieved of duty for refusing to execute the perp walk.
"I really kind of bristle when I hear folks ... make that comparison, well, you know, I'm not a fan of James Comey because of what happened in '16," said Steele. "Okay. That's then. But the reality of it is you don't want the system ever to be weaponized against anyone, regardless of what they may have done in the past or what you may have thought of their actions in the past."
"What we need to stay focused on right now, folks, is what's happening to your neighbors, your families, your community, your country by a rogue president and a rogue administration of bad actors who don't give a damn about the Constitution, who find ways every week, every day to step on it, to step on its words and its full meaning," Steele continued. "And so, yes, you can point back in the past and say, oh, we did that, and I'm not happy about it, but look at what's happening today. So James Comey is no different than any other citizen. He's a private citizen who's being hauled in front of a judicial process. For what? For what?"
"And that's where you always have to ask yourselves, why is this happening?" he added. "And it's happening because one man is so insecure and he's so juvenile in his thinking that this is the only way he can. He can't move on from it. And we get caught up in it. And that, for me at least, is a bigger problem than what James Comey did in 2016."