Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) slammed former FBI Director James Comey as someone who was disrespectful of the Constitution and too fond of the media spotlight during remarks before the media on Friday.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein briefed House members on the latest on Comey's surprising firing last week by President Trump and the FBI probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Asked about the White House's scrambled timeline for why and how Comey's termination came about, Issa said the facts spoke for themselves before lighting into Comey.
"I for one thought that Comey ill-served the American people when he tried to stretch beyond all reason the Fourth Amendment to hack into your iPhones," he said. "So I have had a belief that he didn't respect the Constitution, had become in love with the camera, which is normally for politicians, and that he began thinking that he was somehow larger than the FBI Director and effectively being the FBI Director and the Department of Justice."
Asked if newly appointed special counsel Robert Mueller was on a "witch hunt," as Trump has charged, Issa quipped that he didn't believe in witches. He added all special prosecutors tend to turn over more rocks than the Executive Branch likes.
"I don't think the American people or our president should be concerned," he said. "He's going to find things beyond the scope that the narrowest interpretation of either Republicans or Democrats would want, but I think the American people deserve the scope to be as broad as necessary to regain confidence in our elected officials, in our appointed officials, in our elections."