Judge Napolitano: ‘I Jumped The Gun’ By Saying Comey Broke The Law With Leaks: ‘Appears He Did Not’
Judge Andrew Napolitano appeared on Fox & Friends to react to former FBI Director James Comey’s CNN interview from Thursday night in which he explained his decision to leak memos on his interactions with President Donald Trump to the press.
Some Republican lawmakers — and a number of Fox News pundits — have decried Comey’s admission that he passed on the memos, arguing the leaks broke the law.
Napolitano made the case that Professor Daniel Richman — Comey’s friend and a former DOJ official who he passed on his memos to, and who detailed the contents of those memos to the press — supposedly had a security clearance that allowed him to “lawfully receive the contents of these memos.”
“This may not be too popular here, but I thought Comey was pretty compelling last night with Anderson Cooper,” Napolitano said.
“Not all leaks are criminal,” Napolitano continued. “If it’s not classified it’s not criminal.”
“At the time this occurred — by this I mean, Professor Richman reading to selected members of the media, selected nonclassified portions of one of the memos — Jim Comey was a private citizen,” Napolitano said.
“He covered himself?” Brian Kilmeade asked.
“Yes, I thought he covered himself,” Napolitano said.
“But he didn’t own that memo,” Steve Doocy protested sheepishly.
“But legally he did cover himself,” Kilmeade argued, pointing out that the information given to the press was not classified.
“Now, I jumped the gun here the other day,” Napolitano noted. “Not knowing that Professor Richman had a security clearance.”
“And one of you, I think, said to me: ‘Did Jim Comey break the law? I said it appears he did. I since have apologized, it now appears did he not.”
“We didn’t know about the professor having the clearance, which is why as a judge, I ought to have known you have you got to get all the facts before you form a judgment.”
Watch above, via Fox News.
[image via screengrab]
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