Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' threat to pardon some participants in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is an "attack on the rule of law" and the GOP's threats to defund the FBI is a sign the broader party has lost its way, argued former FBI Director James Comey, himself a Republican, on CNN Tuesday.
"Given the career you have had in the FBI, when you see the former president, now the frontrunner again for the Republican nomination, how big a threat is that?" asked anchor Anderson Cooper.
"A very serious threat to the rule of law, almost an existential threat if he were to become president again," said Comey. "He has tried to take a flamethrower to the FBI, to the Department of Justice to stop them investigating."
"You believe Donald Trump is an existential threat to the rule of law?" asked Cooper.
"I do, yes," said Comey. "Were he to become president again, I don't think America has ever seen and is ready for what he would try and do to the system of justice."
"The Justice Department has sent a very strong message about what happened on January 6th with their prosecutions, their investigations and prosecutions of some of those responsible," said Cooper. "When you hear the former president talking about pardoning, you hear Ron DeSantis talking about looking at pardons, what do you think?"
"It's disgusting," said Comey. "It's an attack on the rule of law. If anything in this country people should be able to agree on, we should send a message, never again. You can't intervene by force. You can protest, you can march, you can do what you want, but don't you dare. That's the message that has to be sent with those prosecutions. And the idea of undercutting that message makes no sense at all."
"Many in the House in Congress say that the FBI has been 'weaponized,' that it's going after conservatives, that it's politicized," Cooper continued. "Do you believe any of that is true?"
"I don't believe any of it is true," said Comey. "I never would have expected it. All of us should become more familiar with the way a cult operates in the recent years. So it makes sense in the light of that phenomenon. But I never would have anticipated it years ago."
"So what happens if the Republican Party, which has a long, proud history, if many of its members are talking about, you know, prosecuting the director of the FBI, defunding the FBI — some of them are talking about defunding the FBI," said Cooper. "What does that say about the Republican Party?"
"I don't know what the Republican Party is anymore," said Comey. "And I don't know what its future. I think the American people need to hand it, especially the presidential level, a series of losses until they figure out who they want to be. Because they're not a party that is consistent with the values of the country."
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