Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy says former FBI Director James Comey is distorting the definition of an information “leak” to suit his own purposes.
The South Carolina congressman told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Thursday night that Comey was twisting the facts in an interview with Fox’s Bret Baier earlier that evening.
Comey was trying to convince Baier that he had not really “leaked” his memos of meetings with President Donald Trump to the media but had simply shared personal correspondence that could be seen as no different than a private “diary.”
That didn’t wash with Gowdy, who told Carlson that Comey “has a definition of the word leak that no one else has.”
“What he says is a leak is what the rest of us call a felony,” Gowdy insisted. “Leaking is disclosing a confidential conversation, which is exactly what he did.”
.@TGowdySC on @Comey interview: “Jim Comey has a definition of the word ‘leak’ that no one else has. What he says is a leak is what the rest of us call a felony.” #Tucker https://t.co/RggSJ7Gsfm pic.twitter.com/Vm4zrLAQDG
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 27, 2018
Comey claimed Wednesday on CNN that he did not leak memos, but that he “asked a friend to communicate the substance … one unclassified memo to the media.”
CNN host Anderson Cooper pressed him.
“I think of a leak as an unauthorized disclosure of classified information,” Comey said.
“That’s it?” Cooper replied.
The DOJ inspector general is examining whether Comey violated any laws or regulations governing the release of classified information to the media or public.