“Does it concern you that…?”
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Wall Street Journal editorial board member Kimberly Strassel shared a list of 28 questions former FBI Director James Comey should have been asked during his “20/20” interview.
Strassel posted the list to Twitter, and her proposed questions range in topics from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Christopher Steele dossier and President Donald Trump.
Strassel noted that Comey has repeatedly cited that former British spy Christopher Steele’s dossier is “credible.”
Therefore, she wondered, “Does the FBI routinely view as ‘credible’ sources hired by political operatives?”
Despite his claim that Steele had a “track record,” she wondered if he was concerned he was working for politicians in an election year.
3)Did you know Mr. Steele had been hired by Fusion GPS? Did FBI do any due diligence on Fusion, and discover its long record of being hired to dirty the reputations of its clients’ political foes? If not, why not?
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) April 16,2018
Strassel would have also flat-out asked Steele “who had ultimately hired him.”
If he claimed ignorance of his employer, she would have asked if that would have been “worrisome — that a ‘credible’ source (and former spy!) was willing to work for/benefit an unknown client?”
She added that if he refused to reveal his source, “doesn’t that undercut credibility?”
7)Steele (by his own admission) handed info to FBI and then briefed press—despite having been told not to Are these the actions of a “credible” source? Does it concern you that your “credible” source blew open to the public your investigation?
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) April 16,2018
She called for an explanation as to why specific unverified claims about Trump campaign adviser Carter Page were used as a basis for a FISA warrant four times.
8)The FBI must’ve known the fall news stories—particularly Yahoo News—came from Steele. Sourcing was obvious. Yet you told FISA court your “credible” source had not talked to media. Either u didn’t follow up on stories before going to court, or Steele lied to you. Which?
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) April 16,2018
Comey declared that the dossier’s central premise, “that Russia attempted to interfere in [the] election” was what mattered.
“Can you name a time in modern history where Russia wasn’t doing that?” she asked . “So why then give special credence to a politically motivated, salacious dossier?”
She tweeted that Comey claimed the “effort” was “originally financed by a Republican source.”
Therefore, during the interview, the question should have been asked, “You are aware, correct, that the actual dossier effort was only ever financed by the DNC and Clinton campaign?”
On the basis that Comey knew that a “Democrat-aligned” group funded the dossier but that he didn’t know which one, Strassel would have asked:
If, as Comey stated, no one should lie to the FBI, she asked why Steele, if he lied, “has not been prosecuted.”
Had she been interviewing Comey, Strassel tweeted she would have posed the question:
Again, given your strong feelings about lying: Why did the FBI never take any follow up action against Huma Abedin, whose statements to FBI are at odds with emails FBI possessed?
On that note, she would have also asked why the FBI didn’t interview Clinton until after a year of work and after he made a judgment.
“FBI usually interviews witnesses up front, to see if they lie at the start,” she tweeted. “Why all the special Hillary interview accommodations?”
14) Please discuss Andrew McCabe and that IG report that finds he lied repeatedly—both to you and about you. Do you still believe he “stood tall” as you Tweeted in Jan? Or is he one of the “small people” helping “tear down” an institution?
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) April 16,2018
Strassel noted that Comey has stated he believes in the “chain of command” and referenced former Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s proposal to use the word “matter” when discussing the Clinton investigation.
“How do you explain your contrasting dismissal of [Attorney General Jeff] Sessions authority, and your decision to conceal vital information from him?” she tweeted .
16)You justify your numerous releases of FBI information on grounds that each met high bar of serving “public interest.” Yet you saw no “public interest” in confirming publicly what you’d told Trump privately—that he was not under investigation?
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) April 16,2018
Finally, Strassel pointed out that many of his comments seem to imply that he factored politics into his decision-making.
“Does this not run directly counter to [Department of Justice] policy, which specifically states: ‘politics must play no role in the decisions of federal investigators?’” she asked.
Comey’s Sunday interview with ABC News was the first interview he’s conducted since being fired as FBI director.
Jenni Fink joined IJR in 2016 as a writer and covers primarily politics and stories about inspiring human beings. She graduated from the University of… more
