WASHINGTON – Ousted FBI Director James Comey must be held accountable for creating a presidential election frenzy over “fake” intelligence, one top Republican senator said Sunday.
“If he intervened in the election based on fake information generated by the Russians, that was an incredibly incompetent thing to do,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“This is a huge deal,” Graham said of new reporting that Comey hijacked the Department of Justice investigation based on fake Russian intelligence.
“That, to me, is a stunning story,” Graham continued. “From Congress’ point of view, he never told us it was fake, so he needs to be held accountable.”
Comey knew a critical document that influenced the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails was a fake but pushed ahead anyway, CNN reported Friday.
The document was Russian intelligence that purported to show that then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch was compromised. It referenced an alleged email between former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and a political operative, Leonard Benardo, about reassurances Lynch had made to not let the FBI investigation go too far.
The Washington Post also reported that Comey used this fake document as justification to bypass Lynch and hold an unprecedented press conference to publicly clear Clinton of criminal wrongdoing but declare the Democratic nominee had been “extremely careless” with classified information
Comey declined to inform Congress he learned the information was fake because he feared it could undermine the probe and the Department of Justice, CNN reported.
“If he did in fact believe the email was fake he should have shared it with the Congress because we have oversight over him,” Graham said. “I can’t imagine a scenario where it’s OK for the FBI director to jump into the middle of an election based on a fake email generated by the Russians and not tell the Congress.”
Graham wants further investigation on the alleged email and possibly further sanctions on Russia.
President Trump fired Comey earlier this month.