Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer described fired FBI Director James Comey’s congressional testimony on Thursday as “Trump-ian,” saying the former top cop went into the hearing with the intent to “hit back” at President Trump.
“I hate to put it this way, but he showed a Trump-ian side of himself. If to be Trump-ian is to fight back, never to take it – as Trump says, ‘I hit back ten times as hard as I’ve been hit – this is what Comey did,” Krauthammer said on Fox News.
“Basically, he was very angry about the way he was gotten rid of, the brutal way it was done, it was also a very politically stupid way to do it,” he added.
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In his opening comments to lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, Comey accused Trump of blatantly lying in his explanation as to why he fired the FBI director. The president, Comey alleged, had made false and defamatory statements about the FBI and his ouster.
“Although the law required no reason at all to fire an FBI director, the administration then chose to defame me and, more importantly, the FBI by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader,” he told Senators.
“Those were lies, plain and simple, and I am so sorry that the FBI workforce had to hear them and I’m so sorry that the American people were told them,” he said.
The testimony on Thursday was Comey’s first such appearance since Trump abruptly fired him last month. Comey was in Los Angeles when his termination was announced, and reportedly learned of the decision in the news.
Trump has long boasted about his penchant for revenge and retaliation, once saying in a 2011 speech, “if they screw you, screw them back 10 times as hard.”