MSNBC’s Dilanian: MAGA Cannot Get Over The Fact That Trump-Russia Probe Was Conducted “Fairly And Properly”
MSNBC justice correspondent Ken Dilanian reacts to the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey on Friday’s “Morning Joe.” Dilanian said MAGA can’t get over that the Russiagate probe was investigated “fairly and properly” and that it was “a thing that the FBI had to do at the time.”
KEN DILANIAN, MSNBC INTEL & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: And we should explain to folks what the charges are here, which is that James Comey is charged with lying to Congress and obstructing justice related to testimony that he gave at a Senate hearing five years ago. As you said, the statute of limitations was about to expire. And this was a hearing about the Trump-Russia investigation. But the testimony at issue was not about the Trump-Russia investigation. It was about whether James Comey had authorized his deputy, Andrew McCabe at the time, to leak a story to the Wall Street Journal back in 2018 about investigations into the Clinton Foundation. There was a whole inspector general investigation of this issue. And that investigation found that Andrew McCabe lacked candor, in other words, that he lied. But it also found that James Comey did not authorize that leak, that he was aware of it. And he did, McCabe told him about it, but he didn’t authorize it. And that’s the way Comey testified. Now, we don’t know what new evidence, if any, has been unearthed, what they presented to the grand jury to convince 12 grand jurors to move this case along. But we’re not aware of anything in the public record that bolsters the idea that Comey lied to Congress. And I got to say, so Lindsey Graham is on Fox News last night reacting to this. And he talked for five minutes about what he perceived Comey’s sins were in the Trump-Russia investigation, which to me underscores, this isn’t really about what James Comey said in answer to that question. This is about people on the MAGA side wanting to punish him because they believe that he lied to the FISA court or did all these horrible things. And by the way, another prosecutor, a special counsel, John Durham, was appointed by Donald Trump. He looked into that whole issue thoroughly. He didn’t charge James Comey or anyone else with these issues, except for a low-level FBI lawyer. And so this is really a sop to the people on the MAGA side who cannot get over the fact that the Trump-Russia investigation was conducted, according to the inspector general, fairly and properly and was a thing that the FBI had to do at the time, guys.
