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From: Johanna Persing <jpersing@gop.

com>
Date: Thu, Apr 12, 2018 at 11:41 AM
Subject: Talking Points: James Comey Book Tour
To:

Good morning,

Please see the following talking points ahead of James Comey’s book tour. Let us know if you need
any additional materials. Thank you.

Johanna

James Comey has a long history of misstatements and misconduct:

 During his tenure as FBI Director, James Comey was strongly criticized by members of both parties for his
history of bizarre decisions, contradictory statements, and acting against Department of Justice and FBI
protocol.

 Comey’s misconduct damaged the FBI’s reputation and seriously called into question his credibility.

 Comey is a consummate Washington insider who knows how to work the media to protect his flanks. Case
in point was his decision to leak FBI documents to the press after being fired by the President.

 Americans will remember that his attempts to smear the Trump administration are nothing more than
retaliation by a disgraced former official.

Comey isn’t credible – just ask Democrats:

 Democrats widely criticized Comey’s inappropriate conduct, and many of them publicly called for his
resignation.

 Now that they embrace Comey for criticizing President Trump, Democrats’ hypocrisy is on full display.

 As they inevitably take to the airwaves to bash President Trump’s decision to fire Comey, Democrats should
be forced to explain why they take that position now after saying in 2016 and 2017 Comey had damaged the
institution of law enforcement and lost all credibility.

Background on Comey misconduct:

Comey’s contradictions:

 Comey contradicted his own allegation that President Trump interfered in the Russia investigation in prior
testimony to Congress.

o In June 2017, he testified that the President “direct[ed]” him to stop investigating former National
Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

o However, one month earlier, Comey testified that the FBI had never been told to stop an
investigation for political reasons.

 Comey contradicted himself on his leaking of information about ongoing federal investigations.
o In May 2017, he testified that he had never leaked information as an anonymous source about the
Trump or Clinton investigations.

o One month later, he admitted he had used a close friend to leak his memos to the press in order to
prompt a special counsel investigation.

 Comey presented gross inaccuracies during his congressional testimony, damaging his reputation.

o He told Congress that a top aide to Clinton had “sent hundreds of thousands of emails to her
husband’s laptop” with classified information.

o In fact, only a “small number” of emails were sent to that laptop, and of those, only two contained
classified information.

o According to The Washington Post, Comey’s reputation as nonpartisan was “severely damaged” by
getting such important details wrong during testimony.

Comey’s bizarre decisions:

 Comey repeatedly usurped the authority of then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, in one case relying on
unverified documents to justify closing the Clinton email investigation.

o In July 2016, he convened a press conference to declare the FBI was closing its investigation into
the Clinton email server while admitting he had not coordinated his statement “in any way” with the
Department of Justice or any other part of the government.

o This was because the FBI received a Russian intelligence document alleging a tacit understanding
between the Clinton campaign and the Justice Department over a limited investigation.

o In May 2017, the Washington Post reported that the document, which Comey used to make his July
decision without DOJ involvement, was considered within the FBI as “unreliable and possibly a
fake.”

 In January 2017, Comey presented unverified information to then President-elect Trump (which he either
didn’t know or didn’t say was DNC/Clinton-funded opposition research) about his alleged ties to Russia,
despite obvious indications the dossier was unreliable.

 Comey wrongly testified in June 2017 that he had no outline of the parameters of Attorney General Jeff
Sessions’ recusal from the Russia investigation, despite receiving the information that same day of the
recusal.

Comey’s violation of DOJ protocol:

 Comey broke longstanding FBI and DOJ protocol several times by publicly acknowledging the existence of
ongoing FBI investigations.

o In October 2016, he publicly announced an investigation into new Clinton emails immediately before
an election, despite having these “new emails” for at least three weeks.

o AG Lynch was “stunned and confused” when informed of Comey’s plan to reopen the investigation,
and many Democrats called for his resignation.

Background on Democrats calling for resignation:


 Following Comey’s Oct. 28, 2016 letter to Congress, numerous Democrats said Comey had behaved
inappropriately and should resign or be fired.

o Democratic Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Comey was perhaps “not in the right
job.”

o Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) accused Comey of breaking the law and said he “of
course” should resign.

o Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Comey “acted in an outrageous way” and that “it would not be a bad
thing for the American People” if he stepped down.

o Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he was “appalled by what Comey did” and that he did “not have
confidence in him any longer.”

 In late 2016 throughout 2017, prominent Democrats publicly said Comey had irreparably damaged the
institution of law enforcement and the reputation of the FBI.
o Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) called Comey’s actions in 2016 one of the “lowest moments in the history of
the FBI.”

o Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said Comey had “damaged the institution of law enforcement” in the
country.

o Former Governor Howard Dean (D-VA) tweeted that Comey may have “destroyed the credibility of
the FBI forever” and put himself on the same side as Putin.

o Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said Comey “has no credibility,” and said if Hillary Clinton had won she
should have fired him.

 Many Democrats called Comey’s actions unprecedented and inappropriate.


o Democrat Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton wrote that Comey had badly overstepped his
bounds as FBI Director.

o Minority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Comey’s actions during the presidential campaign raised
“serious questions about his conduct as an investigator and prosecutor.”

o Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said Comey’s actions left her “shocked” and were “appalling.”

o Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said Comey showed a “grave lack of judgment” and had done “a disservice
to the United States of America.”

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