Sen. Cruz To James Comey: You Were Either Deliberately Corrupt or Woefully Incompetent

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today questioned former FBI Director James Comey at a full committee hearing examining his role in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation and the FBI’s FISA abuses. Watch Sen. Cruz’s full line of questioning here.

WATCH: Cruz Blasts Comey at Judiciary Hearing: You Were Either Deliberately Corrupt or Woefully Incompetent

On the FBI’s weaponization against the Trump campaign, Sen. Cruz asked:

“Mr. Comey, you testified earlier today that you have concerns whenever the FBI doesn’t operate in a, quote, ‘competent and honest’ way. In your judgment, was the way that the FBI handled the Russia investigation, the surveillance of the Trump campaign, the Carter Page FISA application, the Michael Flynn investigation – was that handled in a ‘competent and honest’ way?” 

Mr. Comey responded: 

“First, Senator Cruz, there was no, to my knowledge, surveillance of the Trump campaign. I think the overall investigation of the Russian interference and whether Americans were associated with it was conducted in an honest, competent, independent way.” 

On the FBI’s fraudulent and politically motivated FISA application, Sen. Cruz asked:

“So, you were personally aware that the political opposition, whether the DNC or Hillary Clinton, or whatever campaign bucket it was coming from, it was the opposing party that was funding it. You were specifically aware of it in September. Why didn’t you tell the FISA court? Why did you omit that over and over and over again on applications you submitted? Didn't the court deserve to know that?”

Mr. Comey responded:

“My recollection is the FISA court was alerted to the possibility that it was a politically biased reporting.”

When Mr. Comey claimed he recalled the FISA court had been alerted “there was political bias in the reporting,” Sen. Cruz replied:

“Your recollection is false. The FISA court was not told that it was funded by the DNC. That’s one of the omissions that your FBI did repeatedly to the federal court. […] Political bias is different from saying, ‘It was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign.’ You just testified to this committee you were specifically aware of that. And yet, you repeatedly did not inform the court of it when you were getting an order to essentially weaponize the Democratic opposition research.”

Sen. Cruz concluded his line of questioning by saying: 

“I’m going to make a final point because my time has expired. This investigation of the president was corrupt. The FBI and the Department of Justice were politicized and weaponized. And, in my opinion, there are only two possibilities. That you were deliberately corrupt or woefully incompetent. And I don’t believe you were incompetent. This has done severe damage to the professionals and the honorable men and women at the FBI because law enforcement should not be used as a political weapon. And that is the legacy you’ve left.”

In August, Sen. Cruz questioned former Acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates on her decision to sign off on an investigation into key Trump campaign aide Carter Page and her role in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. In June, Sen. Cruz questioned former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on his role in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.

###