Ed Martin, president of the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, took to his “The Ed Martin Movement” podcast Monday to criticize former FBI director James Comey, calling him “a total tool” and demanding that Comey be prosecuted for his handling of the FBI’s warrant applications.
On the most recent edition of “Fox News Sunday,” host Chris Wallace interviewed Comey about the Justice Department’s review of the FBI’s investigation into possible collusion between President Donald Trump and Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign; the review was conducted by the department’s inspector general. Before the interview, Trump accused Fox News of trying to be “politically correct,” and Martin, following Trump’s lead, criticized Fox News for interviewing Comey.
“I agree with the president, why would this sleazeball be given a place to be interviewed and pretend to be friendly?” Martin asked his listeners.
While the report found no political bias in the opening of the investigation (nor a planned coup, for that matter), as Trump and conservatives alleged, conservatives latched onto the report’s detailing of 17 errors and omissions in the warrant applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA, for surveillance of Carter Page, who was then an adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign, and who had significant contacts in Russia at the time when agents of the Russian government were hacking the email accounts of the Democratic National Committee.
Comey defended the FBI. “What I mean is the FBI was accused of treason, of illegal spying, tapping Mr. Trump’s wires illegally, opening an investigation without justification and being a criminal conspiracy to unseat—defeat and then unseat a president. All of that was nonsense,” Comey told Wallace. Yet, Comey admitted he was “wrong” in his confidence in the FBI’s FISA application process and said he took responsibility.
Martin focused his attacks on the admission and called for Comey to be held accountable for putting the U.S. “through a terrible, terrible injustice.”
“He is a foil in the political fight against Trump. He’s a tool, a tool, a total tool. But what you need to know is guys like Comey should be held accountable. He has put this country through a terrible, terrible injustice,” Martin said.
“And it’s not only that he should be embarrassed when he goes to the supermarket–he should be–it’s that he should be held accountable, and he should be prosecuted,” Martin said. “He should be held accountable, and he should lose his pension, he should be held accountable, and he should lose anything anything related to his service that’s legal, I’m not saying to do it illegally.”
Martin ended his tirade against Comey with one last critique: “You’re the head of the FBI, you weren’t a beat cop in, in, you know, suburban Toledo, who didn’t check on the back door of a deli, and they lost a pound of ham.”
