Giuliani predicts Barr will prosecute Comey for ‘treason’
President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, believes the Justice Department has former FBI Director James Comey cornered.
Giuliani said he had no insider information but predicted that Attorney General William Barr is preparing to bring charges against Comey for his role in the case against Trump’s former national security adviser retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.
“I think they have Comey,” Giuliani told John Catsimatidis on Sunday's The Cats Roundtable radio show.
Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump entered the White House. The Justice Department filed to dismiss the charges against Flynn on Thursday, agreeing with Flynn’s attorneys that his interview with the FBI should never have taken place because his conversations with the Russian diplomat were “entirely appropriate.”
Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told special counsel Robert Mueller’s team that she and Comey disagreed about how the Flynn case should be handled, according to newly released notes.
During the presidential transition period, Yates said she wanted to tell the incoming administration about the phone calls between Flynn and the Russian ambassador, but Comey was resistant to the idea. Yates said she finally decided to tell the White House about the conversations a few days after Trump was inaugurated and called Comey to inform him. Comey then “informed her that two agents were on their way to interview Mike Flynn at the White House.”
Comey sent then-FBI agent Peter Strzok and another FBI agent believed to be Joseph Pientka to talk to Flynn in January 2017, later admitting that he did not go through the White House Counsel’s Office, as he would have in previous administrations.
Flynn resigned three weeks after Trump’s inauguration as it was believed he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with the Russian envoy.
Giuliani described Comey’s actions as being as “close to treason as you can get" and stated his belief that former CIA Director John Brennan "orchestrated" the effort.
“They wanted to take out the lawfully elected president of the United States. And they wanted to do it by lying. Submitting false affidavits. Using phony witnesses. In other words, they wanted to do it by illegal means. What is overthrowing the government by illegal means? … It’s treason,” he said.
His comments echo that of Trump, who celebrated the Justice Department's move to drop the Flynn case and said what the "Obama administration Justice Department" did was "treason."
Barr appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to investigate the Russia inquiry.
Comey said the Justice Department had "lost its way" after it filed to drop the charges against Flynn. He also urged career employees to stay at their jobs. “America needs you,” he said in a tweet. “The country is hungry for honest, competent leadership.”
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