Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Friday that former FBI Director James B. Comey was “uneasy” about having dinner at the White House back in January.
“Jim and I spoke briefly before the ceremony, and he mentioned he’d been invited to the White House to have dinner with the president, and he mentioned he was uneasy with that because of even the appearance of compromising the optics of independence of him or the FBI,” Mr. Clapper said on MSNBC.
President Trump said this week that he asked Mr. Comey at the January dinner if he was under investigation for his campaign’s alleged ties to Russian groups. Mr. Trump said Mr. Comey assured him he was not.
The former intelligence director also said that he did not see any evidence of low morale at the FBI because of actions taken by Mr. Comey in the past year concerning the Hillary Clinton email case or the Russia investigation.
“I can attest, it’s always difficult when assessing the morale of a large, complex, institution, but from my vantage — morale in the FBI was very high, and I can attest personally cause I witnessed the very high-esteem and respect that people in the FBI had, and still have, for Jim Comey,” Mr. Clapper said.
Mr. Clapper did say that regardless of Mr. Comey’s firing, the Russia investigation needs to be continue and conclude properly so the country and the Trump administration can move on.
“It would be in everyone’s best interest to get to the bottom of this, and for the country. Otherwise, this is going to linger like a dark cloud, in my opinion, over this administration,” the former intelligence director said.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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