Included in former FBI Director James Comey's rant against Republicans on Capitol Hill Monday was a jab at Fox News. Comey, who was fired by President Trump in May 2017, faced the House Judiciary Committee for the second time in two weeks for closed door testimony about the FBI's handling of Hillary Clinton's email scandal and special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. He's being investigated by the Department of Justice Inspector General for allegedly leaking classified memos to the press. According to Republicans who were in the room, Comey failed to answer a lot of their most important inquiries and pretty much wasted their time.
Comey had plenty to say to the press, though, following the meeting. He accused Trump of singlehandedly damaging the FBI's reputation and took no responsibility himself for the agency's fall from grace.
"I think the president's attacks on the Justice Department broadly and the FBI are something that no matter what political party you're in, you should find deeply troubling and continue to speak out about," he said.
Comey also said the GOP was complicit in the FBI's sullied reputation for not pushing back against the president. He then instructed them to stop believing everything they hear on Fox News.
COMEY blasts House Republicans following his testimony: "Someone has to stand up to the fear of Fox News, fear of their base, fear of mean tweets, stand up for the values of this country & not slink away to retirement. Stand up and speak the truth." pic.twitter.com/Ngqdgmoqdj
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 17, 2018
The hosts at "The Five" had a chance to defend their network on their Monday night program, sounding off on the "joke" Comey has become.
"He's the only person that I've seen up there that has less self-awareness than Hillary Clinton," Jedediah Bila responded.
"This is a guy," she noted, who exonerated Hillary Clinton in her State Department email scandal before he even interviewed her and who withheld information from the FISA court when seeking a warrant to surveil Trump adviser Carter Page.
Jesse Waters explained that it's not Trump's fault the FBI has lost Americans' trust. Comey and other "bad apples" at the FBI "dug their own grave," he explained, by lying, and by failing to hide their deep rooted anti-Trump bias.
"He just has no sense that he comes off so antagonistic, and takes no responsibility," Bila said of Comey.
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