Former congressman Trey Gowdy mocked former FBI Director James Comey's suggestion that his critics should apologize to him in light of the report from the Department of Justice’s inspector general.
Gowdy, a Fox News contributor, was asked on "America's Newsroom" about Comey suggesting that he should receive an apology from those who accused him of leaking to the media.
Gowdy, a Republican, said the report was positive for Comey "if his goal in life is to avoid indictment."
"Congratulations, James Comey, you did it," said the former South Carolina lawmaker. "My goal in life is to have history say I was fair. I may have had my critics, but I was fair and history will not judge James Comey as a fair FBI director. He's a partisan who delights in attacking the person that he'd still be working for if he hadn't been fired."
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While the IG report did cite a lack of evidence that Comey leaked classified information to the media, it did point out that he leaked sensitive information about an ongoing investigation to a friend who then gave it to the media. And the reported noted that Comey failed to notify the FBI when he found out that other information he gave to his lawyers was later deemed classified.
"DOJ IG 'found no evidence that Comey or his attorneys released any of the classified information contained in any of the memos to members of the media.' I don’t need a public apology from those who defamed me, but a quick message with a “sorry we lied about you' would be nice," Comey tweeted in response.
In a follow-up tweet, Comey mocked those who predicted he would be "going to jail," accusing Trump and his supporters of providing the public with "bad information."
Gowdy ran through a laundry list of transgressions by Comey, arguing that Comey had already been "dinged" by the inspector general for his actions during the investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
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He said no one should feel they need to apologize since Comey violated FBI and DOJ policies and his employment agreement, divulged the existence of an investigation and transmitted classified information.
"James Comey plays by his own rules," said Gowdy, criticizing Comey for using a pre-inauguration briefing with Trump to gather intelligence for the Russa investigation.
Gowdy argued that the FBI had very little "evidentiary basis" at the time to believe that Trump was colluding with Russia in 2016.
Fox News' Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.
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