Sen. Mike Lee says he doubts fired FBI Director James Comey will tell a Senate intelligence panel that he was pressured to drop a probe of ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn's ties to Russia.
In an interview Wednesday with Newsmax TV's Steve Malzberg, the Utah Republican – whose book about the Founding Fathers, "Written Out of History" is out this week – said Comey testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee that "he hasn't seen political pressure brought to bear on an investigation like this."
"I think he was pretty clear in what he said, moreover, if in fact he had been pressured in the manner many people have described, I think he's one who would have resigned in that circumstance," said Lee, a member of the judiciary panel.
"So I don't expect that we'll hear anything different on that front when he testifies."
Lee said he does want Comey, however, to clear up his motivation for holding a July 2016 news conference to announce no criminal charges would be recommended against Hillary Clinton for her misuse of a private email server.
"Why on earth was he put in a position in July of 2016 to be holding a press conference announcing a decision with regard to whether or not to prosecute Hillary Clinton?" he said.
"That's not the role of the FBI director, that's not the role of the FBI. That's the role of the attorney general and those who were reporting to her at the time – and I hope they'll ask him questions about that."
Lee also said he hopes President Donald Trump will "get us out of" the Paris agreement to reduce carbon emissions to thwart climate change.
"The Paris agreement is a bad deal… for the United States," he said. "It's a good deal if what you're trying to do is thwart the growth of the American economy, thwart job opportunities for middle class Americans. But it's a bad deal if you are an American, especially a middle class, hard-working American."
And he called on comedian Kathy Griffin to "back" her apology for displaying a disturbing photo of what looked to be the decapitated head of Trump "with a plea for those in the entertainment industry and those in the news media to calm down and to not do things like this."
"This is bad for our discourse," he said. "She may have a right to do that, but just because you can doesn't mean you should. "
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