Rep. Darrell Issa Warns That Jim Comey Could Slip Past Republicans

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) — soon to leave his position as a lawmaker — warned on Monday that former FBI Director James Comey is likely to evade a subpoena with control of Congress changing very soon.

House Republicans have been reviewing questionable decisions made by federal investigators related to the presidential election of 2016. Comey has been a main person of interest since the beginning — for his involvement and his public comments.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) is now trying to get him to testify again.

“Comey has been very clever at defeating Chairman Goodlatte time and time again,” Issa told host Laura Ingraham on “The Laura Ingraham Show” on Monday morning.

“So I wouldn’t be surprised if at the last minute something comes up and he looks and says, ‘They really have no power to get me here and if you want to hold me in contempt, that’s great because you guys will be gone and Nancy Pelosi will undo it.’ So I do believe he could slip through our fingers again, partly because people waited too long.”

Related: Strzok Hides Behind National Security Cover, Mum to Most Key Questions

The House Judiciary Committee and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee launched the investigation last year to review decisions made by the Department of Justice and FBI during two major investigations around the election.

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was the subject of one of the investigations.

Clinton drew the attention of federal investigators with her use of a private email server to conduct official business while she was secretary of state.

Comey declined to recommend prosecution of her because, he claimed, her “extreme carelessness” did not satisfy the law’s requirement of “gross negligence” as the basis for criminal charges.

“Just like Eric Holder, when you look at his actual actions, you find unethical and possibly illegal conduct by Comey,” Issa said to Ingraham. “That begs the bigger question for the president with his acting attorney general and with his final choice. Who is going to be put in as attorney general to drain the worst swamp in Washington, which is the fact [that] the Department of Justice has become highly political and highly left-leaning and there is no question at all, if you can’t fix that, we won’t be able to fix our justice system.”

Comey has already testified before Congress during a nearly three-hour hearing June 2017.

Listen to the segment from “The Laura Ingraham Show”:

Republicans are hoping to get him back to ask new questions of him, given how much information has come to light since then, including some contradictions to his earlier comments, such as how many emails the committee was able to review.

But Comey is resisting calls to appear before lawmakers to answer questions and even pledged to ignore a subpoena he was issued last week.

Related: Lisa Page Defies Subpoena, Tells Congress She Needs More Time

“Happy Thanksgiving,” Comey said in a tweet on Thursday. “Got a subpoena from House Republicans. I’m still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a ‘closed door’ thing because I’ve seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Let’s have a hearing and invite everyone to see.”

The House investigation is also looking into what led to the special counsel’s investigation into alleged Russian interference.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has been leading the investigation, which has been looking at whether Trump or his associates colluded with Russian interests during the campaign.

House Democrats were able to gain congressional control during the midterm elections on November 5.

Republicans were still able to maintain their majority in the Senate — which splits control. Issa will be retiring and joining the Trump administration when the new Congress starts on January 3.

And check out this video: