The abrupt firing of FBI director James Comey by President Donald Trump Tuesday evening sent shockwaves across the country and longtime U.S. Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas told KMAN Wednesday afternoon he understood the action.
“Well, I think what really happened was, Rod Rosenstein, who is the Deputy Attorney General, he came on board and one of his first duties was to take a look at the whole situation with Mr. Comey, and the election, etcetera, etcetera, and he did that,” Roberts said in a phone interview. “And basically, he said that in the last year, under Director Comey, that the FBI’s reputation and credibility have suffered substantial damage.”
Roberts, who called for a swift nomination and confirmation of a new FBI director, seemed to fault Comey for his handling of the investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her email server saga. Roberts said Comey became too much of a prosecutor and commentator.
“In the doing of that, really, very bad timing, in the election process,” Roberts said. “First one way, then another way. I think he just went over the lines of what a FBI director should be.”
But on Oct. 28 of last year, when Comey sent a letter to Congress 11 days before the election saying he had reopened an FBI investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State, Roberts welcomed the letter and called for immediate action.
Roberts tweeted, “It is regretful that this matter wasn’t more fully reviewed some months ago, but it is certainly appropriate to take a hard look at it now.”
It is regretful that this matter wasn’t more fully reviewed some months ago, but it is certainly appropriate to take a hard look at it now. pic.twitter.com/1HVmcMBJHn
— Pat Roberts (@SenPatRoberts) October 28, 2016
Wednesday, Roberts said Rosenstein’s memo, which explicitly cited Comey’s handling of the Clinton investigation, was one Trump couldn’t ignore.
“When you have the Deputy Attorney General, whose job it is do that, make that recommendation, the president really doesn’t have any other option,” he said.
Still, Roberts acknowledged the timing of Trump’s dismissal of Comey — who reaffirmed to Congress last week that the FBI’s investigation into Trump and his campaign’s alleged Russian ties was continuing.
“When is the appropriate time?” Roberts asked. “If he waited, he would’ve been criticized, you know, for waiting. But the timing was, uh, a little troubling.”
Roberts’ full interview with KMAN’s Cathy Dawes will be broadcast during Friday morning’s edition of In Focus.
