Former South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy said he thought President Donald Trump was justified in his anger toward the old guard at the FBI.
During a brief interview Thursday with Martha MacCallum, Gowdy said that the actions taken by high-ranking FBI officials were enough to raise the suspicion that they were “out to get” the president. (RELATED: Trey Gowdy Isn’t Buying Lisa Page’s Excuses: ‘I’m Not Sure How She Thinks Context Will Improve That’)
WATCH:
President Trump took aim at former FBI Director James Comey during his post-acquittal speech, saying, “Had I not fired James Comey, who was a disaster, by the way, it’s possible I wouldn’t even be standing here right now.”
“If I didn’t fire James Comey, we would have never found this stuff,” Trump continued. “When I fired that sleazebag, all Hell broke out.”
MacCallum introduced Gowdy then, noting, “Very strong words. But when you look at the Mueller report and the FISA process, you can understand where it’s coming from.”
“Yeah, Peter Strzok, the lead case agent on this Russia probe, was talking about impeaching Donald Trump before Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler were,” Gowdy agreed. “Let that sink in. The lead agent for the FBI mentioned impeaching Trump before Schiff and Nadler did.”
Gowdy went on to outline the FBI’s behavior, arguing that the “defensive briefing” was really just an interview because they already thought Trump was guilty of some impropriety.
“You have James Comey who thinks impeachment is too good for him. You have John Brennan that thinks he should be in the dust pan of history. You have Andy McCabe, who after Comey was fired, launched another investigation into Trump,” Gowdy laid out all the characters. “Martha, if I were Donald Trump, I would think the FBI was out to get me, too.”
MacCallum concluded by saying that the president appeared to believe that firing Comey was actually what saved him, because it removed the person at the top who had allowed such a culture to develop.
“Yeah, I would correct the president’s narrative only to this extent,” Gowdy replied. “He replaced Comey with Mccabe. That is hardly moving up the draft board. It was only when Chris Wray came in that I think you had a dispassionate, objective, law enforcement centered person. McCabe was no better than Comey.”