Republican Congressman Jim Jordan Lines Up Behind Trump In Support Of Comey Firing
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Republican Congressman Jim Jordan, from Ohio, defended Donald Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey during an appearance with The Rich Zeoli Show on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, mirroring Trump's earlier statements that Comey has lost the trust of bureau agents.
"I think it's right. People have lost confidence in him and I'm sure some of the great professionals that work at the FBI have lost confidence in the Director. The timing, I think was driven by the fact that Mr Rosenstein just came on board, his boss as the Deputy Attorney General. When you have a guy who messes up the investigation into the Clinton email situation as bad as they did, it was time for a change. I support what happened."
Jordan cited multiple missteps during of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while Secretary of State that justify Comey's removal.
"He was wrong when he came out and did what he did in July, but I also thought, frankly, he was wrong when he did what he did 11 days before the election. I just thought it confirmed he messed this thing up from the get go. What he did, and this is the serious part of this, what Comey did is undermine this concept that, in this great country, it's equal treatment under the law. It sure looked like if you're the major party's nominee for President, if you're a former First Lady, a former Senator, a former Secretary of State, there's one standard for you and then there's a different one for us regular folk. That is not supposed to be how it works in this great country."
He believed Comey overstepped his bounds regarding the decision not to charge Clinton and is glad a new Director will assume command at the FBI.
"When you saw the behavior where he announces, not the Attorney General, he announces that they're not going to prosecute, not Loretta Lynch, but James Comey, the first time this was ever done...That's a problem. I think it made sense for this change to take place."
