Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Sunday that former FBI Director James Comey's leak of a conversation with President Donald Trump was "not the best way" to get the story into the public sphere.
Comey testified Thursday that he leaked a conversation of Trump hoping that Comey would back off an investigation into ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, in hopes of prompting the appointment of a special counsel to take over the Russia investigation.
"I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter," Comey said. "I didn't do it myself for a variety of reasons, but I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel."
ABC host George Stephanopoulos asked Bharara if Comey's conduct constituted a violation of FBI regulations.
"I don't know," Bharara said. "It doesn't seem to be. One could make the argument that it was not the best way to go about trying to bring a story into the open. Obviously, Jim Comey was comfortable after being called to testify, to testify about the memos and about the conversations, and it was just his recollection ... It may be that there was a better way to bring the information out, like he did in the hearing ultimately."
The New York Times reported on the memo in May, and Robert Mueller was shortly after appointed special counsel on the case.
Bharara was appointed by Barack Obama to be U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and he was one of 46 U.S. Attorneys to be fired in March by the Trump administration. Bharara said the dismissal came after he refused to quit, and he said he was surprised because then-President-elect Trump asked him in November to stay on.
Bharara added he never had a phone conversation with Obama while he was in office, but he received three phone calls from Trump between Trump's election and his firing.
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