On Fox News Thursday, erstwhile South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy fired upon former Federal Bureau of Investigations Director James Comey and 2016-2018 FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Trey told host Martha MacCallum the deeds of top FBI officials was sufficient evidence to suspect they were “out to get” Donald Trump.
In a post-acquittal speech Thursday, the President set his sights on Comey with — in Martha’s words — a “searing rebuke”:
“Had I not fired James Comey — who was a disaster, by the way — it’s possible I wouldn’t even be standing here right now. We caught ’em in the act. Dirty cops. Bad people.”
The language got substantially stronger:
“[I]f I didn’t fire James Comey, we would have never found this stuff. ‘Cause when I fired that sleazebag, all hell broke out.”
After playing the above clip of the Commander-in-Chief, Martha remarked, “Very strong words. No mincing of words there at all. But when you look at the Mueller report and the FISA process, you can understand where it’s coming from.”
Trey pointed out that the FBI was talking impeachment before Congress ever brought it up:
“Yeah, Peter Strzok, the lead case agent on this Russia probe, was talking about impeaching Donald Trump before Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler were. I mean, just let that sink in for a second: The lead agent for the FBI mentioned impeaching Trump before Schiff and Nadler did.”
It was an early incrimination:
“Then the FBI conducts this defensive briefing, which is really just an interview, because they suspected Donald Trump of impropriety.”
Following that, Trey augmented his list of suspects:
“You have James Comey, who thinks impeachment is too good for him. You have John Brennan that thinks he should be ‘in the dustbin of history.’ You have Andy McCabe, who — after Comey was fired — launched another investigation into Trump. Martha, if I were Donald Trump, I would think the FBI was out to get me, too.”
As for Brennan’s “history” comment, here it is in full:
Obviously not a fan of the Leader of the Free World.
The host noted Trump’s reference to the salvation of Comey’s firing, founded upon the idea that it was he who allowed such a culture in the Bureau to grow.
Gowdy agreed, with an expansion:
“Yeah, I would correct the President’s narrative only to this extent: He replaced Comey with McCabe. That is hardly moving up the draft board. It was only when Chris Wray came in that I think you had a dispassionate, objective, law-enforcement-centered person. McCabe was no better than Comey.”
Trey’s never been one to play coy; last March, he accused Adam Schiff of leaking to the media “like a screen door on a submarine” (here).
Either way, in the end — so far as impeachment’s concerned — they sunk the Democrat’s battleship.
It was destined to be so — Republicans head up the Senate.
Still, in his speech Wednesday, Trump marveled at the egregious attempts by those in the DoJ:
“They were going to try and overthrow the government of the United States. A duly elected president.”
“It was evil, it was corrupt, it was dirty cops,” he said. “It was leakers, and liars, and it should never, ever happen to another president. Ever.”
Might it?