Chuck Todd turned on disgraced former FBI head James Comey comparing him to another disgraced FBI head J. Edgar Hoover. That is where Comey belongs, on America’s wall of shame.
Todd then called for a new Church Committee to restore trust in the agency. “It appears imperative that we take action to reinstate trust.”
Todd said: “If you only consume media on the right, you might be excused for thinking this week’s 306-page Durham report on the Russian inquiry was a ‘bombshell’ and ‘damning’ and that the investigation was an ‘abomination’ and a ‘soft coup.’
“But special counsel John Durham’s actual sharpest conclusions after a four-year investigation were that the FBI suffered from confirmation bias and, quote, ‘discounted or willfully ignored material information’ that countered the narrative of collusion between Donald Trump and Russia.
“The report recommended no ‘wholesale changes’ to FBI rules for regulations or wiretaps, and Durham did not send a single person to jail, even though former President Trump once predicted that Durham would uncover the crime of the century.
“That said, Dan Balz, this is not an FBI that should feel good about what Durham discovered.
“Because at a minimum, this issue of confirmation bias goes to the heart of how James Comey seemed to worry so much about what the perception of the FBI was.
“That he, whether it was overdid or underdid Hillary stuff, and then overdid or underdid Trump stuff.”
Balz said: “Well, since, since Comey, the FBI has been under attack.
“And the Durham report in many ways confirms what the DOJ IG report said.
“It’s almost identical. And in some ways backed off some of the rhetoric that they had going into it.
“But the FBI’s been in a compromised position. And part of that has to do with the nature of our politics today.
“The FBI has become a politicized institution and a political target, and this is going to make it much more difficult for Merrick Garland as he goes forward with these investigations, and I don’t see any way out of that in the – anywhere in the near future.”
“No,” Todd said. “And let me throw in this headline from your newspaper, Dan.
‘’FBI misused surveillance tool on January 6th suspects, BLM’—- Black Lives Matter – ‘arrestees and others.’
“Feels like we’re in a moment that we need a real Church Committee.
“That this is a moment like when the J. Edgar Hoover FBI clearly was no longer helping the American people, there was a moment.
“This feels like we might be in one of those moments.”
“It seems like we have to do something to restore trust. We have to – and it has to be moderate trust.
“And I’ll be honest.
“Christopher Wray hides.
“He hides.
“He does – he only goes before Congress, and he doesn’t defend the institution publicly.”
NBC’s Chuck Todd on Durham report fallout: “It feels like we’re in the moment that we need a real Church Committee…like when the J. Edgar Hoover FBI clearly was no longer helping the American people, there was a moment — this feels like we might be in one of those moments…” pic.twitter.com/ciRRkLMbfY
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 21, 2023
