The White House painted ex-FBI Director James Comey as a power hungry bureaucrat who relished private meetings with President Trump.
The White House painted ex-FBI Director James Comey as a power hungry bureaucrat who relished private meetings with President Trump.
“This man, Jim Comey, loves to be within the proximity of power and having dinner alone with the President,” Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the President, said on ABC News’ “Good Morning America.” “He loved being alone in the Oval Office, and wanted a piece of it.”
Comey previously expressed concern about being left alone with the commander-in-chief during his first months in office — reportedly going as trying to blend in with the White House curtains so Trump wouldn’t spot him.
She lambasted Comey’s leadership of the bureau, particularly over the probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails.
“This guy swung an election,” Conway said. “He thought the wrong person would win.”
Critics believe Comey swung the election in the President’s favor by announcing the reopening of a probe into Clinton’s use of a private email server 11 days before the election.
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Comey admitted in a sweeping interview that aired Sunday night he thought Clinton would’ve won the 2016 election.
The former lawman thought Clinton’s presidency could be deemed illegitimate if the bureau didn’t look at classified emails to top aide Huma Abedin that were discovered on husband Anthony Weiner’s computer.
Trump, who’s referred to Comey as “slippery” and a “slimeball,” fired back at the former FBI director again Monday for his handling of the Clinton probe.
“Comey drafted the Crooked Hillary exoneration long before he talked to her (lied in Congress to Senator G), then based his decisions on her poll numbers,” Trump tweeted, referring to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
Trump continued that Comey, recently fired Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and other “disgruntled” employees “committed many crimes!”
Conway didn’t say if Trump watched the highly anticipated interview.
She doubled down on the President’s assertion that Comey lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee last year, because officials corrected his testimony to say a handful of emails were found on Weiner’s computer — not thousands.
Comey has also admitted to giving memos on his meetings with Trump to a friend who then leaked them to the press.
Conway suggested Comey was actually keeping copious notes for his upcoming book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” which hits shelves Tuesday.
She added he was “gutter” for remarking on the length of Trump’s tie during their first meeting.
Among Comey’s recollections was a one-on-one meeting in which the President said he hoped the FBI could let go of an investigation into onetime National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
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Conway claimed Comey lied under oath last spring when he told congressional investigators no one asked him to drop the probe.
„The President has made very clear that he never asked anyone to interfere in an investigation,“ she said. „And Jim Comey had admitted that in testimony that nobody here had ever asked him to drop an investigation for political reasons.“
But Conway was corrected that Comey was referring solely to Justice Department officials, and was never asked about the President’s request.
At that point, she questioned why the then-FBI director never asked anyone to come back into the room after Trump’s suggestion, accusing him of wanting to be close to Trump.
“Did he run out and tell the attorney general please come in here, I feel uncomfortable? Did he call back the vice president? No,” she said.
