Tucker Carlson: James Comey pitches himself as 'America's moral martyr'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tucker Carlson reacted Monday to former FBI Director James Comey's rare interview that aired on "Fox News Sunday."
"For two long years James Comey played the role of America's moral martyr -- and for two years it had worked for him," said the "Tucker Carlson Tonight" host of Comey's public life since Trump dismissed him as the head of the FBI.
Carlson noted Comey became a celebrity after his July 2016 press conference, during which he recommended against charging Hillary Clinton in connection with her email scandal.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}BRIT HUME: SCHIFF'S CLAIM HE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT FISA ABUSE IS 'UTTER NONSENSE'
However, the director soon found himself despised by Democrats after he reopened the email investigation days prior to the presidential election after the bureau discovered emails on a laptop belonging to former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y. Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, is a longtime Clinton aide.
"Less than a year later, though, Donald Trump fired Jim Comey as the FBI Director," Carlson recalled. "Whatever Trump dislikes, liberals love and so Comey was back in their good graces again."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}COMEY ADMITS 'I WAS WRONG' ON FISA CONDUCT, REMAINS DEFIANT ON DOSSIER
In his interview with Wallace, Comey said he was "overconfident in the procedures of the FBI" to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil then-Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
Carlson dismissed Comey's claim it is "incredibly hard" to get such a warrant, the perceived difficulty of which Comey claimed was grounds for his "overconfidence."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"How 'incredibly hard' is it, Jim Comey?" Carlson said in response. "How many have been turned down in the past 15 years? You don't have the numbers, do you?"
However, Carlson said Comey's most startling comments came later in the interview when he was asked whether he would accept consequences or resign if such a report as the inspector general's came out while he was still at the bureau.
Comey told Wallace he wouldn't resign in that situation.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"There were more mistakes more consequential this in my tenure and the important thing is to be transparent about it," the ex-director said.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Carlson said Comey's response was in fact contradictory.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"There were worse mistakes than knowingly using partisan lies to spy on an American citizen but Jim Comey won't tell you what they are because he believes in transparency," he remarked. "Did you catch all that? That was all in one sentence, by the way,"
"Maybe we need a new inspector general to find out what he is talking about," the host added. "How worried should we be? Can we trust the FBI is no longer used as a political tool by the left?"