House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) falsely asserted on Tuesday morning during an appearance on "CBS This Morning" that FBI director James Comey has "spoken out" against President Donald Trump's wiretap claim.
Co-host Norah O'Donnell asked Pelosi whether she had seen evidence in her role on the House Intelligence Committee to support Trump's claim that former President Barack Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower.
"Once again, the president doesn't know what he's talking about because, first of all, the president can't do that," Pelosi said. "Maybe he's projecting that's something he'd like to do, but that isn't what President Obama did or could do."
Pelosi went on to call Trump the "deflector-in-chief," and said that he wants to deflect the Russian connection, which she said could be personal, political, or financial.
"Do you think he's just making this up?" co-host Gayle King asked.
"Yes. I think he is," Pelosi said.
"Do you think FBI director James Comey should speak out publicly about this?" co-host Anthony Mason asked.
"He did. He has spoken out," Pelosi said. "He said that they should retract that statement, as I understand what I've seen in the press. He was very courageous to protect the integrity of the FBI. He has spoken out against it."
But Comey has not given a public statement on the matter, as he did when he publicly spoke out on the Hillary Clinton email case that occurred during her presidential campaign.
There have been reports that Comey told the Justice Department to publicly reject Trump's assertion that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower, however. After Trump accused Obama on Saturday of wiretapping Trump Tower, Comey allegedly "asked the Justice Department to publicly refute President Trump’s assertion that his predecessor, President Obama, ordered a wiretap of Trump’s phones prior to the November 2016 election," ABC reported on Sunday.
An anonymous source claimed that the FBI director was "incredulous" over Trump's accusation. The same anonymous source claimed Comey was concerned about the allegation, CNN reported on Monday.
The source said Comey was concerned that the allegation would make the FBI look bad, and that concern was part of what prompted the FBI director to have his staff reach out to staff at the Justice Department asking them to knock down the allegation.
The source said Comey felt "institutionally he has to push back on this" because the magnitude of the allegations that Comey knows not to be true.