Leaked portions of a Department of Justice Inspector General's report that determined fired FBI Director James Comey had been "insubordinate" showed him to be "deplorable," White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said Thursday.
"James Comey is disgraced, he's a liar and a leaker, he is disgruntled,"Gidley told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. "The book tour he wept on was disgraceful. People understand at that point what he is, who he is, what he is about."
The rank-and-file members of the FBI are "incredible," he continued, as they protect the nation, but there are "serious concerns at the upper echelons of the FBI."
"At this point, Americans are well aware of what James Comey is and what a deplorable human being he turned out to be," said Gidley.
Gidley also discussed Thursday's meeting between President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, noting that the two leaders will talk about several items, including North Korea, trade, and China.
However, he downplayed reports that former NBA star Dennis Rodman could be part of the talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Trump.
"We have a schedule set of what we want accomplished," said Gidley. "We want denuclearization of the peninsula, verifiable, denuclearization. I don't know what part the best rebounder in basketball has to play in that.
"He is great on the court but negotiations should best be left to those who are good at it. President Trump is the best. So we expect he and Kim Jong Un to have an amazing conversation without Dennis Rodman in tow."
Gidley also discussed a new report from the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security concerning crimes committed by people who were in the United States illegally during the first quarter of 2018.
According to the report, a quarter of a million illegal immigrants were charged with 663,000 criminal offenses, and more than one in five people in custody of the California Bureau of Prisons were were either known or suspected illegal immigrants, show co-host Steve Doocy said.
"The administration wants to protect the American people," Gidley said. "Too long the policy of this country as regards, in regard to immigration has been keep these numbers in the dark, keep the American people in the dark and not let them understand the data and just what is at stake. In many instances it is their very lives."
Out of the criminal offenses reported, about 1,500 were homicides; 80,000 incidences of assault, and 45,000 were cases of aggravated assault, said Gidley. Further, another 8,000 of the offenses were sexual assaults.
"These are horrible crimes," said Gidley. "People are coming to this country illegally and unlawfully. We've got to fix this. We've got to shed light on this for too long, the people of this country have been kept in the dark."
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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