James Comey comes out swinging at Donald Trump

| 10:11 am EST December 23, 2017
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Since re-entering public life via Twitter, former FBI Director James Comey has largely limited himself to speaking through historical quotes. Perhaps he’s been limiting his words because he’s a material witness in the ongoing obstruction of justice investigation into Donald Trump. Perhaps he’s just been saving it for his upcoming book. But on Friday night Comey drew a line, and used his own words to angrily come out swinging at Trump.

Earlier this week, Trump’s new handpicked FBI Director Christopher Wray reassigned longtime FBI lawyer James Baker. This was clearly a punitive moved aimed at making an example out of Baker, who can testify that Trump asked Comey to rig the Russia investigation in Michael Flynn’s favor. This prompted James Comey to take a shot at Trump and Wray for the transgression.

Comey tweeted “Sadly, we are now at a point in our political life when anyone can be attacked for partisan gain. James Baker, who is stepping down as FBI General Counsel, served our country incredibly well for 25 years & deserves better. He is what we should all want our public servants to be.” Again, Comey is usually so restrained, he only speaks through the words of historical figures, so this was a big deal. He wasn’t the only one to come out swinging.

Benjamin Wittes, a personal friend of James Comey and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, also took to Twitter to criticize the move. Wittes tweeted “I have refrained from criticizing Chris Wray, but this is not a good look. Jim Baker is one of the very finest public servants in the national security establishment. Nobody will begrudge Wray picking his own team over time. But when the Bureau is under fire from the political echelon—including the President—it is no time to be doing anything that anyone will confuse with cleaning house or appeasing those who would politicize law enforcement.”