James Comey’s Lawyer on Upcoming Testimony: He Didn’t Want His Words to Get ‘Twisted’ by Republicans

The lawyer for former FBI director James Comey appeared on MSNBC today to talk with Ari Melber about his client’s unsuccessful attempt to make his testimony before a House committee public.

Comey has agreed to testify behind closed doors to the House Judiciary Committee, though he’s negotiated steps to make sure it’s as public as possible:

Grateful for a fair hearing from judge. Hard to protect my rights without being in contempt, which I don’t believe in. So will sit in the dark, but Republicans agree I’m free to talk when done and transcript released in 24 hours. This is the closest I can get to public testimony.

— James Comey (@Comey) December 2, 2018

His attorney David Kelley said on MSNBC tonight it’s not ideal because they wanted this entire process to be transparent.

Melber asked him if they have concerns about House Republicans “trying to rig the hearing.” Kelley did not directly answer, saying that “it appears that the two committees conducting the investigation have reached the conclusion and then said ‘Let’s bring some witnesses in here and we’ll do it in private and we’ll take snippets of their testimony, we’ll mold it into a mosaic that fits our political narrative… and that’s what we’re gonna release to the public, not the unfiltered testimony.'”

And Comey, he added, didn’t want his testimony “twisted in that way.”

Kelley expected that there’s “going to be a lot of attempts to put words in his mouth” in ways that “would fit this partisan mosaic.”

At one point they also discussed the Mueller probe and Kelley made a point of praising the special counsel in contrast to House Republican-led investigations:

“You have Congressman Gowdy, who spent several years trying to get an investigation, spent tens of millions of dollars on Benghazi and came up with nothing, and in a fraction of that time, Bob Mueller’s come up with upwards of 30 indictments.”

“You’re saying Bob Mueller’s proven much more effective than some of the House Republicans,” Melber remarked.

“It’s indisputable, frankly,” Kelley responded.

Watch above, via MSNBC.

[image via screengrab]

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