Former FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday slammed President Trump’s recent claims about the FBI, accusing him of “lying” about the bureau’s work.
Comey’s tweets come as Trump has intensified his attacks on the agency in recent days, claiming without evidence that the FBI placed an informant in his presidential campaign for political purposes.
“Facts matter. The FBI’s use of Confidential Human Sources (the actual term) is tightly regulated and essential to protecting the country,” Comey tweeted. “Attacks on the FBI and lying about its work will do lasting damage to our country.”
“How will Republicans explain this to their grandchildren?” he asked.
In a second tweet, Comey urged Americans to resist leaders who “will lie about anything” by actively seeking out truth.
“Dangerous time when our country is led by those who will lie about anything, backed by those who will believe anything, based on information from media sources that will say anything,” he said. “Americans must break out of that bubble and seek truth.”
Comey was fired by Trump last year, and has become a vocal critic of the president, both in media interviews and in a book released in March.
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Trump has repeatedly accused Comey of lying, most recently earlier this year after Comey testified under oath that he had never been an anonymous source. Comey told a Senate panel last year that he had given memos about his personal interactions with Trump to a “close friend” to leak to the press, hoping it would prompt the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.
Trump also accused Comey of “lies” and “leaks” related to former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe, accusing him of leaking information to the media about the FBI probe into the Clinton Foundation without authorization. An inspector general report found that McCabe lied to Comey about leaking the information, but McCabe disputes that finding, saying Comey was informed.
Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch also recently pushed back on Comey’s account of their discussions about the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, saying they did not happen as he describes.
Trump has repeatedly attacked the FBI, but his criticism has intensified since it was revealed that an FBI informant met with three advisers to Trump’s campaign ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
In the past week, Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Obama administration planted an informant in his campaign to “spy” on him. On Sunday, he demanded that the Justice Department investigate.
The Justice Department has asked its inspector general to expand an existing probe to include Trump’s claims.
In a series of tweets Wednesday morning, Trump continued to push his claims, lashing out at what he called the “Criminal Deep State.”
“Look how things have turned around on the Criminal Deep State,” he tweeted. “They go after Phony Collusion with Russia, a made up Scam, and end up getting caught in a major SPY scandal the likes of which this country may never have seen before!”
Updated at 11:10 a.m.