Former FBI Director James Comey leaked so much information that he “needs to build himself another ark” to contain the flood, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said Tuesday on Fox News’ “Outnumbered Overtime.”
Gohmert, an outspoken member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, told Fox News’ Melissa Francis that he keeps thinking about a quote from actor Wilford Brimley’s character of fictional Assistant U.S. Attorney General James A. Wells in the 1981 film “Absence of Malice.”
“Wilford Brimley said, ‘Last time we had a leak like that, Noah built himself an ark,'” Gohmert paraphrased. “I think that is what we have going on when you have Comey [saying] he doesn’t consider it a leak.”
Comey repeatedly defended his decision to ask his friend Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman to leak to the media information from memos Comey wrote detailing his private conversations with President Donald Trump.
Richman previously worked with the FBI on a “special government employee” status. Comey testified that he hoped the leaked memos would spur the appointment of a special counsel to investigate allegations of collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia interests.
“You know, in fairness to [Comey], it’s really not a leak. It’s more of a flood, not just a little leak. And maybe Noah needs to build himself another ark,” Gohmert added.
Related: Emails Show FBI Advised Comey to ‘Coordinate’ With Mueller
Trump fired Comey in May 2017. Comey told Fox News’ Bret Baier in April, “I don’t consider what I did with Mr. Richman a leak.” Comey also noted that he didn’t previously reveal that he hired Richman to perform work on a special government employee status “because it wasn’t relevant.”
But congressional investigators are demanding information from the Department of Justice and FBI regarding Richman and the handling of Comey’s memos. DOJ officials confirmed Tuesday to Fox News that the department plans to cooperate with requests from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) to view documents regarding Richman and the memos.
But Gohmert remained skeptical.
Related: Comey Is ‘a Man Without Courage,’ Dershowitz Says
“Well, what we’ve seen in the past … anything that may be damaging, they will try to cover up,” Gohmert said. “They will swear it is going to reveal national secrets that put lives at risk.”
“And then once again, when we get the information, we find out no lives were at risk — only reputations, only potential violations of regulations in the law,” Gohmert continued. “So yeah — generally, they try to cover up anything embarrassing.”
It’s nevertheless time “to clean house,” Gohmert insisted.
PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter.
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