WASHINGTON — Rep. Jim Himes blasted detractors of former FBI Director James Comey and special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday, saying they “will rot in hell.”
“People will rot in hell for besmirching the reputation, the integrity, and the professional history of these two men,” the Fairfield County Democrat told CNN’s Kate Bolduan on “At This Hour.”
Himes’ impassioned defense came after President Donald Trump attacked Comey earlier Friday as a “weak and untruthful slime ball” following reports on excerpts from the former FBI director’s tell-all memoir.
Himes suggested it was fair to debate Comey’s actions as director — such as his disclosure about the reopening of the FBI investigation into emails thought to be potentially related to Hillary Clinton’s server just days before the election — but that personal attacks were beyond the pale.
“You do not get to take men like Bob Mueller and Jim Comey, who have done nothing but try to serve this country in the most extraordinary circumstances, and using the apparatus of the White House, the most powerful office in the land, and the Republican, the Republican National Committee, the party of Teddy Roosevelt and Abe Lincoln, and trash the integrity of a good man,” he said. “When those tools get used to trash the integrity of two good men, that’s when this country’s gone over a cliff.”
“I have profound respect for the office of the President, but as an individual of integrity, this President doesn’t have the right to shine Jim Comey’s shoes,” Himes concluded.
