Former FBI Director James Comey said he wouldn’t support anyone but Presiden Joe Biden for the 2024 presidential race.
“It has to be Joe Biden,” Comey told Biden’s former White House press secretary Jen Psaki on her MSBNC show aired on June 4, when asked whether he intends to vote for Biden again or Republican candidates other than former President Donald Trump.
“I’m glad he’s willing to serve. It has to be somebody committed to the rule of law, committed to the values of this country,” Comey added. “And I’m not talking about policy. People can disagree about policy. There are things above those disagreements that all of us should think about the same way.
“The president must be someone who abides the law and our Constitution. And there’s no one else but Joe Biden.”
Currently, two Democrats—book author Marianne Williamson and environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—are challenging Biden for the Democrat nomination for president in 2024.
Seven Republicans have announced a 2024 White House bid—Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, biotechnology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, conservative radio host Larry Elder, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Former President Barack Obama named Comey as the FBI chief in 2013, a position he held until he was fired by Trump in May 2017.
If Trump is reelected, Comey claimed that he would be targeted by the former president in what would be “four years of a retribution presidency.”
“He could order the investigation and prosecution of individuals who he sees as enemies. I’m sure I’m on the enemy list,” Comey said. “Because the president constitutionally does oversee the executive branch entirely, which includes the Department of Justice, prosecutors, and investigators, and so he could commission, direct that individuals be pursued.
“He could also direct all kinds of other conduct that people would maybe take to court to try to stop—but who enforces court orders? Mostly the United States Marshals Service, which is part of the executive branch and reports to the president.”
Comey continued: “And so President Trump could say, ‘I don’t care what the Supreme Court says or these district judges say, I’m telling the Marshals Service don’t enforce the court order.’”
“And so our Constitution really does give a rogue president, which is what this would be, tremendous power to destroy,” he added.
Comey was one of the former top FBI officials who refused to speak to Special Counsel John Durham. According to the Durham report (pdf), Comey “declined to be interviewed.”
Durham wrote that the FBI relied on “raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence” for its 2016–17 FBI investigation of alleged ties between Trump and Russia. “The objective facts show that the FBI’s handling of important aspects of the Crossfire Hurricane matter were seriously deficient,” Durham added.
Following the report’s release, the FBI acknowledged mistakes in its investigation of the Trump campaign, while Trump said that “the American Public was scammed” in a statement.
In an interview with MSNBC last month, Comey said the Durham report showed the FBI had made mistakes but the bureau “did it the right way.”
“Do you expect—or should we expect—Russia to interfere on his behalf in 2024 if he’s the nominee?” Psaki asked Comey about Trump.
“Yes, of course,” Comey said. “[Russian President] Vladimir Putin does not want Joe Biden to be president of the United States for reasons that I hope the American people see. Because [Biden] acts in our national interests. [Putin] would very much like Donald Trump to be president again because Donald Trump—for reasons I still can’t explain—very, very fond of Vladimir Putin. And so they will find ways to interfere.”
“I hope our Intelligence Community is equipped to respond maybe better than we did in 2016.”
