Former FBI Director James Comey may have a point behind demanding to be interviewed in public when he testifies before the House Judiciary Committee, if he is actually going to answer questions, ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday.
"It doesn't help him much if Comey says 'I would like to appear in public,' and then as soon as he is in public he says, 'well I can't discuss this because it's classified,'" Gingrich told Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
"As a general rule, I think it's always better to have the American people involved. The more they can learn, the more capable they are of rendering judgment."
On Thanksgiving, Comey revealed that he'd been subpoenaed to speak with the committee about the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email system, and said he would only speak if the questioning was done in public.
Sunday, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., suggested recording the whole proceeding and then releasing the video to the public, but Gingrich said there may be people who will ask questions about the tape and its validity.
“The remedy for leaks is not to have a public hearing where you are supposed to ask about 17 months worth of work in 5 minutes,” Gowdy said on Sunday. “I think the remedy is to videotape the deposition. Videotape the transcribed interview. That way the public can see whether the question was fair. They can judge the entirety of the answer.”
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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