Schieffer Grills DHS Sec: Why Wasn’t FBI Director at WH Extremism Summit?

One of the biggest storylines to come out of last week’s White House summit to counter violent extremism was the fact that FBI Director James Comey was not present. On Face the Nation Sunday morning, Bob Schieffer asked Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson why Comey was not there.

“How can you have a terrorism summit and not have the director of the FBI there?” Schieffer asked Johnson.

Johnson said the FBI is an important part of the nation’s counterterrorism efforts, but would not directly answer Schieffer’s question. He said Attorney General Eric Holder — Comey’s boss — was there, but Schieffer said, “but that’s not like having the FBI director there, shouldn’t he have been there?”

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, echoed Schieffer’s concerns about the FBI director’s absence, calling the summit more like a “psychotherapy session.” Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) also criticized the summit, saying it was a “diversion away from the actual threat.”

Watch the video below, via CBS:

[Image via screengrab]

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