James Comey in 2014: FBI Needs to be ‘Independent’ From ‘Political Forces in the Executive Branch’
60 Minutes began their Sunday night program by revisiting an interview that James Comey gave three years before President Trump fired him as head of the FBI.
Comey’s dismissal rocked the political world last week, and the development became extremely politicized as the press, lawmakers and the White House reacted to the fallout. CBS’ Scott Pelley acknowledged all of this tonight, and he decided to take a new look at an interview he had with Comey back in 2014.
Pelley noted that long before Trump’s political rise, Comey was saying that Americans should be skeptical of the government, and the FBI must maintain its competence by remaining independent. Comey touched on everything in his interview, from defending the Justice Department’s balance between lawful actions and civil liberties, to his appointment to become FBI Director under Barack Obama.
When Pelley asked Comey what Obama was looking for in a bureau chief, the now-former director said the president’s “view is that it has to be someone who is competent and independent to protect this institution.”
“[The FBI] has to maintain a sense of independence from the political forces – I don’t mean that as a pejorative term – but the political forces in the executive branch. And that’s why the director is given a ten-year term, so that it is guaranteed that you’ll spend presidential administrations to make sure that you’re leading it in a way that’s not influenced by the political winds.”
Watch above, via CBS.
[Image via screengrab]
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