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Amodei says he is horrified by Comey comments about Trump

Humberto Sanchez
Humberto Sanchez
Congress
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Rep. Mark Amodei says he was aghast at what former FBI Director James Comey said about President Trump ahead of the release of Comey’s tell-all book, but the Nevada congressman noted that he didn’t hear anything that was criminal.

Amodei, a Republican, prefaced his remarks by saying he hadn’t seen all of the hour-long interview that Comey gave to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos where, among other things, Comey said that the president was “untethered to the truth” and “morally unfit to be president.” Comey’s book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” will be released Tuesday.

“It sounded to me like, the parts I heard, is that he doesn’t like him, but I didn’t hear anything about a petty offense, a misdemeanor or felony,” Amodei said Monday.

He would have been equally as disheartened if it were President Barack Obama who had been attacked.

“If the head of the FBI had gone on TV during the Obama administration and basically said ‘I think he’s a bad guy, leader, whatever’ I’d been just as horrified,” Amodei said.

Amodei harkened back to the reverence for the FBI portrayed in the late-50s TV show “The F.B.I.” He also cited J. Edgar Hoover, the agency’s first director who held the post for nearly 50 years and whose button-downed reputation, at the time, the show tried to capture.

“I’m old enough to remember “The FBI with Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.,” he said. “I just can’t imagine J. Edgar Hoover penning an editorial on how the president sucks, or going on a radio program.”

Amodei said the book seems to focus on personal issues that Comey had with Trump that “went too far,” the Nevada Republican said. “It just bothers me.”

Comey talked about the president’s appearance. For example, he remarked that President Trump's “impressively coiffed hair, it looks to be all his. I confess, I stared at it pretty closely and my reaction was, 'It must take a heck of a lot of time in the morning,' but it's impressively coiffed.”

The former FBI director also said Trump “looked slightly orange up close with small white—half moons under his eyes, which I assume are from tanning goggles.”

Two Democrats, Rep. Jacky Rosen and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, said the interview made them concerned for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating whether Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. Trump has threatened to fire Mueller as a way to kill the investigation, which he believes is a “witch hunt.”

"Last night's interview reaffirmed the need for Congress to protect Robert Mueller's investigation and ensure the special counsel is not fired without cause,” Rosen said in a statement provided by her office. “We must let this investigation continue without political interference from the White House or Congress.”

Last week Rosen signed onto legislation to protect Mueller by providing the special counsel a 10-day window to seek expedited judicial review of their removal to determine whether the firing was for good cause.

Cortez Masto is exploring co-sponsoring the Senate version of the special counsel-protection bill.

“I’m looking at that,” she said Monday, adding that the interview drove home for her the need to safeguard Mueller’s independence.

“Among my many takeaways, but the one that’s most important, is protect the Mueller investigation,” she said Monday. “I’ve said that all along…We need to protect that investigation and make sure it’s independent, that there’s no politics playing into, or persuading the investigation. I think that’s the most important thing right now.”

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