Reacting to ABC’s exclusive interview with former FBI Director James Comey, on her Monday morning show, NBC anchor Megyn Kelly blasted the ex-federal law enforcement official for his personal attacks against President Trump and his revelation that he looked at the polls in the final days of the 2016 election to determine whether or not to announce the reopening of the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation.
“I was shocked to hear excerpts from this book and to see him discussing Mr. Trump the way he was last night on ABC....it’s extraordinary to hear somebody in his position leave office and talk so openly about his former boss, who happens to be our president, like he did.” After former U.S. Attorney Daniel Goldman tried to defend Comey as “a man of incredible integrity,” Kelly scolded: “...the comments about Trump’s orange skin and the under-eye circles, and the size of his hands. I mean, I expect that on cable news, where I spent 14 years. I don’t expect that from James Comey.”
Kelly’s other guest, PBS In Principle co-host Amy Holmes, even compared Comey to a Sex & the City character complaining about her love life: “Watching it last night, sometimes I didn’t know if I was listening to the former FBI director or Carrie Bradshaw after a bad breakup.”
Holmes continued:
I didn’t feel like I learned anything new or substantive. I did learn the entire Comey family hates Donald Trump. I did hear that James Comey on the one hand claims that politics never influenced his decisions, yet, two weeks before the election, he was checking the polls to decide if he should make a very momentous announcement about Hillary Clinton.
Kelly agreed:
Exactly, that was the biggest contradiction in what he said. That he never lets politics influence his decisions. And yet, he admitted elsewhere in the book and in the interview that politics did play a role. He was looking at the poll numbers saying, “Hillary’s gonna win, and therefore, I have to release the fact that we’re investigating this new tranche of e-mails we found on Anthony Weiner’s computer. Otherwise, her presidency will be considered illegitimate by some. Well, it’s like, which is it?
Holmes declared: “He said he was watching the poll numbers.”
Even Goldman, who largely defended Comey, admitted that was a bad decision: “But what he’s saying, and it was a startling admission, I agree with you, is that he was looking at the polls to determine whether or not it made sense for him to disclose this information. There’s a Justice Department policy against it.”
Kelly pressed: “He should not have done that, right?” Goldman reiterated: “There’s a Department of Justice policy against it. And it’s sort of a slippery slope. Once you start doing that, then you’re going down a rabbit hole and there’s no good way to end it.” Kelly concluded: “Right, we were not paying him to look at polls.”
On Friday, CBS This Morning and ABC’s Good Morning America similarly took Comey to task for his “petty” attacks on the President.
Here are excerpts of the April 16 panel discussion:
9:03 AM ET
(...)
MEGYN KELLY: So let’s talk about Comey. I’ll just tell you, I was shocked to hear excerpts from this book and to see him discussing Mr. Trump the way he was last night on ABC. I was shocked. I thought he’d keep his cards closer to the vest. Mr. Trump is still in office, he was his acting FBI director. To me, it’s extraordinary to hear somebody in his position leave office and talk so openly about his former boss, who happens to be our president, like he did. But what do you think?
DANIEL GOLDMAN [FMR. ASST. US ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NY]: Well, I think you’re right. It is an extraordinary moment. And what clearly came out in the interview, and Jim Comey was the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York, where I worked for 10 years, and his reputation sort of proceeds him as a man of incredible integrity, as a career law enforcement official who cares very deeply about this country. And what really came out is that he fells, I think, that our country is a little bit in crisis. And that was obvious in the way that he stressed so much his concern about the basic norm of truth in the Trump era.
KELLY: See, I get all that. I get all that. And I don’t think it’s going to come as big news to anybody that Trump’s relationship with the truth is not exactly an adult one. [Laughter] However, however, the comments about Trump’s orange skin and the under-eye circles, and the size of his hands. I mean, I expect that on cable news, where I spent 14 years. I don’t expect that from James Comey.
AMY HOLMES [CO-HOST, PBS “IN PRINCIPLE”]: Exactly, Megyn. Watching it last night, sometimes I didn’t know if I was listening to the former FBI director or [Sex & The City character] Carrie Bradshaw after a bad breakup. [Laughter] I mean, he like tells this story about flying back after getting fired, on the FBI private jet, sipping his red wine from a paper coffee cup. And I was like, I hear you, brother, but for me, it was Amtrak Northeast Regional. [Laughter]
KELLY: And a mallet to the head, over and over.
HOLMES: Exactly, I didn’t feel like I learned anything new or substantive. I did learn the entire Comey family hates Donald Trump. I did hear that James Comey on the one hand claims that politics never influenced his decisions, yet, two weeks before the election, he was checking the polls to decide if he should make a very momentous announcement about Hillary Clinton.
KELLY: Exactly, that was the biggest contradiction in what he said. That he never lets politics influence his decisions. And yet, he admitted elsewhere in the book and in the interview that politics did play a role. He was looking at the poll numbers saying, “Hillary’s gonna win, and therefore, I have to release the fact that we’re investigating this new tranche of e-mails we found on Anthony Weiner’s computer. Otherwise, her presidency will be considered illegitimate by some. Well, it’s like, which is it?
HOLMES: He said he was watching the poll numbers.
(...)
GOLDMAN: But I think his point is only that he doesn’t let – he would never have let his own political preferences influence his decision. But what he’s saying, and it was a startling admission, I agree with you, is that he was looking at the polls to determine whether or not it made sense for him to disclose this information. There’s a Justice Department policy against it.
KELLY: He shouldn’t have done that. He should not have done that, right?
GOLDMAN: There’s a Department of Justice policy against it. And it’s sort of a slippery slope. Once you start doing that, then you’re going down a rabbit hole and there’s no good way to end it.
KELLY: Right, we were not paying him to look at polls.
HOLMES: Dan, he dove down the rabbit hole, okay?
GOLDMAN: He opened the hole in July, when he made the announcement, and he just kept going down.
(...)
HOLMES: Again, I was really surprised by how sort of open and brazen the former FBI Director was about his personal feelings, his personal political judgments about a sitting President of the United States.
KELLY: Right, because you’ve got to wonder whether President Trump is sitting in his office now, with his existing, you know, FBI director or CIA director, thinking, “Can I talk to this person openly? Like, what’s gonna happen? Is this person, if I fire them, are they going to run to the TV cameras?” I don’t know, I feel like while a person’s in office, is there a requirement or a duty to be quiet until they’re gone? Or no? Does he have a duty to speak out and tell us, you know, that Trump is saying things that may potentially amount to obstruction of justice?
(...)
