Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC) said Thursday that while the Inspector General report that ripped former FBI Director James Comey was bad, the forthcoming report from Connecticut federal prosecutor John Durham will be even “more damning.”
"Obviously, today was a bad day for James Comey," Meadows, chairman of House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity, adding that it was unbelievable that Comey would look for apologies after the report’s release.
The report found Comey improperly released FBI material to begin the special counsel investigation into the 2016 election and set a “dangerous precedent” for the thousands of FBI employees in his attempt to “achieve a personally desired outcome.”
Meadows said the example Comey set helps explain why Peter Strzok and Andrew McCabe thought there was nothing wrong with their behavior.
"Here we are today, with not only the director of the FBI willfully and deliberately breaking protocol, we now understand why Peter Strzok and Andrew McCabe thought what they were doing was OK," Meadows said.
"The John Durham report coming out will be more damning than this -- and this was not a good day for the former FBI director."
He also weighed in on Twitter about the report, pointing out what he considered were some of the more serious findings from the IG:
Regarding the IG report, what's perhaps most rich:
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) August 29, 2019
James Comey constantly described himself as acting in favor of a thorough process and transparency—even as he routinely hid information from President Trump about the dossier's shoddy credibility and Clinton paid-for origins
What's most striking about this IG report on James Comey: his actions weren't the result of carelessness or an oversight of rules. This was deliberate and intentional.
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) August 29, 2019
He broke FBI protocol, knowing what he was doing. And it seems he did so for the purpose of targeting Trump.
Remember the 1/6/17 dossier briefing Comey, Brennan, and Clapper gave Trump? Comey has said it was a defensive briefing, simply to give Trump a heads up.
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) August 29, 2019
The IG report contradicts this.
It says the FBI wanted to use the meeting to get "information of value" for Russia probe.
This is a potentially huge revelation. It was never a defensive briefing—it was a setup.
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) August 29, 2019
Read @ChuckRossDC's article outlining it here. https://t.co/S1qEMf7l2a