Mike Huckabee on Lynch calling out Comey, Trump taking on Biden
Former Arkansas governor and Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee reacts to accusations of Jim Comey misrepresenting the Clinton probe and President Trump targeting 2020 challenger Joe Biden in Pennsylvania.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said former law enforcement officials are “turning on each other” amid Attorney General Bill Barr’s investigation into the potential misconduct by the FBI in its probe of the Trump campaign in 2016.
On “America’s Newsroom” Tuesday, Huckabee reacted to the news that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch accused ex-FBI Director James Comey of mischaracterizing her statements while being under oath.
“She basically called him a liar. That's something that he has been called a lot over the past few months by people who have looked at what he said and how it contradicts other things he said. I think what we're seeing is that this whole issue is now moving from a political theater to a legal theater,” Huckabee said.
“That means the rules are changed. When it was about the political rhetoric people could say whatever they want,” Huckabee continued.
“James Comey could speak politically, he could go on talk shows, promote his book. He could present himself as some big deal who knew a lot and was a little more sanctimonious than pretty much anybody else in the country.”
When it was about the political rhetoric people could say whatever they want ... James Comey could speak politically, he could go on talk shows, promote his book. He could present himself as some big deal who knew a lot and was a little more sanctimonious than pretty much anybody else in the country.”
Lynch testified that Comey's claim that she privately instructed him to call the Hillary Clinton email probe a “matter” instead of an “investigation” left her "quite surprised.”
She made the dramatic remarks at a joint closed-door session of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees last December. A transcript of her testimony was released on Monday by House Judiciary Committee ranking member Doug Collins, R-Ga.
Her comments stem from Comey’s June 2017 interview under oath with the House Intelligence Committee, during which he said that Lynch had pressed him to downplay the significance of the Clinton email review in September 2015.
“The attorney general had directed me not to call it an investigation, but instead to call it a matter, which confused me and concerned me," Comey testified. “That was one of the bricks in the load that led me to conclude, ‘I have to step away from the department if we’re to close this case credibly.’”
Comey said the moment led him to question her independence and contributed to his decision to unilaterally hold a press conference in July 2016 announcing the conclusions of the probe.
But the dynamic has changed, the former governor said, thanks to the DOJ investigation spearheaded by Barr that is reportedly looking into whether the FBI acted inappropriately in its investigation of the Trump campaign.
“Something that could cost them really their freedom. I think it's going to be interesting as these folks are turning on each other. Out of the matter of self-preservation.”
“Now things have changed. William Barr is gonna be looking at this not for the politics but for whether or not people broke the law, stepped over their lines and did something that was not just unethical, but was illegal,” he said.
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“Something that could cost them really their freedom. I think it's going to be interesting as these folks are turning on each other. Out of the matter of self-preservation.”
Fox News’ Gregg Re contributed to this report.
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