Johnson on Comey: ‘There are many things that he could have been indicted for’
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on Sunday that there are “many things” for which former FBI Director James Comey could have faced charges, but said the statute of limitations had expired on those other allegations.
“It’s a very important principle for us to apply that everybody has to subscribe to the law, even a former FBI director, and he has lots to answer for,” Johnson said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“There are many things that he could have been indicted for, but the statute of limitations ran out on so many of those matters,” he continued. “Not here. Perjury is important. You can’t — especially if you’re a high official, appointed or elected official — you cannot raise your hand, take an oath and lie to Congress.”
A federal grand jury indicted Comey on charges of making a false statement as well as another for obstruction of a congressional proceeding in connection with testimony he gave before the Senate in 2020. Comey has maintained his innocence, stating that he never knowingly gave false testimony before Congress.
The indictment makes Comey the first of President Trump’s many perceived political enemies to face charges.
Trump has long called for charges against Comey, whom he blames for the investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia in the 2016 election — something he has deemed a “witch hunt.” Last week, Trump appeared to explicitly pressure his attorney general to pursue a case against Comey and other opponents.
Trump said Friday that he hopes “there are others” who will face charges, accusing Democrats of previously “weaponizing the Justice Department like nobody in history.”
He has also called Comey a “dirty cop,” including in a Friday evening post on Truth Social.
But Johnson noted that a grand jury, not the president or his administration, voted to bring an indictment against Comey, and the speaker rejected allegations that Trump was weaponizing the Justice Department.
Instead, he said, for four years under the Biden administration, the Justice Department targeted Trump, adding, “Comey was a primary person responsible for that.”
Trump fired Comey as FBI director in 2017 while the bureau’s investigation into possible ties between Russia and the campaign was ongoing.
“They weaponized the DOJ,” Johnson said. “And so that’s what Comey ultimately was the leader of and responsible for. He was one of the primary persons who did that.”
“And I think if he lied to Congress about what he knew and when he knew it, then that is a matter that transcends politics. I think he has to be tried for that, and I expect that the jury in that case will determine that that’s exactly what he did.”