WASHINGTON (CN) — Former FBI Director James Comey took responsibility Wednesday for errors in an investigation into links between Russia and President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign – mistakes Republicans claim expose anti-Trump bias within the U.S. intelligence community – but told a Senate committee the probe was overall done “by the book.”
“I would say in the main it was done by the book. It was appropriate and it was essential that it be done,” Comey said, testifying by videoconference.
The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing marked the third in a lineup of testimonies as part of a GOP-led investigation into the origins of Crossfire Hurricane, an FBI probe into Trump campaign officials later passed to former special counsel Robert Mueller.
Senate Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., relied on the proceeding as a platform to espouse claims that deep-seated efforts within the FBI sought to undermine Trump’s race to the White House.
Comey, who the president fired in 2017, repeatedly sidestepped Graham and fellow Republicans’ characterizations of the early investigation into Trump’s campaign, saying he did not accept their characterizations.
Instead, the former FBI director leaned heavily on Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s finding last year that Crossfire Hurricane was not politically influenced.
Comey also weighed in on the Justice Department’s push under Attorney General William Barr to abandon the prosecution of Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, calling the development “deeply concerning.”
The former FBI director testified to being overall proud of the work of agents on Crossfire Hurricane but recognized that “parts of it are concerning.”
As part of an internal probe, the inspector general uncovered 17 “significant inaccuracies and omissions” across four FBI applications for warrants to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Latching onto Comey recognizing the FBI’s disclosure of information to the FISA court was inadequate, Graham said the bureau’s actions were “criminally inadequate.”
So far, the Justice Department has brought only one criminal case against an individual involved in Crossfire Hurricane. Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith pleaded guilty last month to altering an email to say that Page, who was previously a CIA source, was “not a source.”
The errors are “unnerving” and have “shaken confidence” in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Graham added, referring to the federal provisions relied on by the FBI to monitor individuals suspected of being national security threats.
He asked Comey if the ex-FBI director would sign off on the Page warrant applications now knowing of the errors, a question the GOP senator posed in two prior hearings on the origins of Crossfire Hurricane to former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in August and former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in June.
Like the prior witnesses, Comey said he would not have signed off on the applications to the FISA court knowing what he knows now.
“No, not without a much fuller discussion of how they were thinking about their disclosure obligations to the court,” he said.
Republicans lambasted Comey for his even-tempered responses, questioning his remorse for the agency’s failings that have drawn considerable alarm from Congress and the public.
Comey took responsibility, though often pointed out he signed a certification related to the warrant application and not the original application or subsequent applications to renew the warrant themselves.
He also took issue with the GOP senators’ focus on the Page warrant and their confusion over Comey not being briefed on the use of the so-called Steele dossier to support the FISA court applications, calling it a “slice” of a very important investigation.