---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Johanna Persing <jpersing@gop.com>

Date: Thu, Apr 12, 2018 at 11:41 AM
Subject: Talking Points: James Comey Book Tour
To:

Good morning,

Please see the following talking points ahead of James Comey’s book tour. Let us know
if you need any additional materials. Thank you.

Johanna

James Comey has a long history of misstatements and misconduct:

• During his tenure as FBI Director, James Comey was strongly criticized by members
of both parties for his history of bizarre decisions, contradictory statements, and
acting against Department of Justice and FBI protocol.

• Comey’s misconduct damaged the FBI’s reputation and seriously called into question
his credibility.

• Comey is a consummate Washington insider who knows how to work the media to
protect his flanks. Case in point was his decision to leak FBI documents to the press
after being fired by the President.

• Americans will remember that his attempts to smear the Trump administration are
nothing more than retaliation by a disgraced former official.

Comey isn’t credible – just ask Democrats:

• Democrats widely criticized Comey’s inappropriate conduct, and many of them

publicly called for his resignation.

• Now that they embrace Comey for criticizing President Trump, Democrats’ hypocrisy
is on full display.

• As they inevitably take to the airwaves to bash President Trump’s decision to fire
Comey, Democrats should be forced to explain why they take that position now after
saying in 2016 and 2017 Comey had damaged the institution of law enforcement and
lost all credibility.

Background on Comey misconduct:

Comey’s contradictions:
 • Comey contradicted his own allegation that President Trump interfered in the Russia
investigation in prior testimony to Congress.

o In June 2017, he testified that the President “direct[ed]” him to stop

investigating former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

o However, one month earlier, Comey testified that the FBI had never been
told to stop an investigation for political reasons.

• Comey contradicted himself on his leaking of information about ongoing federal

investigations.

o In May 2017, he testified that he had never leaked information as an

anonymous source about the Trump or Clinton investigations.

o One month later, he admitted he had used a close friend to leak his memos
to the press in order to prompt a special counsel investigation.

• Comey presented gross inaccuracies during his congressional testimony, damaging

his reputation.

o He told Congress that a top aide to Clinton had “sent hundreds of thousands
of emails to her husband’s laptop” with classified information.

o In fact, only a “small number” of emails were sent to that laptop, and of those,
only two contained classified information.

o According to The Washington Post, Comey’s reputation as nonpartisan was

“severely damaged” by getting such important details wrong during
testimony.

Comey’s bizarre decisions:

• Comey repeatedly usurped the authority of then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, in

one case relying on unverified documents to justify closing the Clinton email
investigation.

o In July 2016, he convened a press conference to declare the FBI was closing
its investigation into the Clinton email server while admitting he had not
coordinated his statement “in any way” with the Department of Justice or any
other part of the government.

o This was because the FBI received a Russian intelligence document alleging
a tacit understanding between the Clinton campaign and the Justice
Department over a limited investigation.

o In May 2017, the Washington Post reported that the document, which Comey
used to make his July decision without DOJ involvement, was considered
within the FBI as “unreliable and possibly a fake.”

• In January 2017, Comey presented unverified information to then President-elect

Trump (which he either didn’t know or didn’t say was DNC/Clinton-funded opposition
 research) about his alleged ties to Russia, despite obvious indications the dossier
was unreliable.

• Comey wrongly testified in June 2017 that he had no outline of the parameters of
Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal from the Russia investigation,
despite receiving the information that same day of the recusal.

Comey’s violation of DOJ protocol:

• Comey broke longstanding FBI and DOJ protocol several times by publicly
acknowledging the existence of ongoing FBI investigations.

o In October 2016, he publicly announced an investigation into new Clinton

emails immediately before an election, despite having these “new emails” for
at least three weeks.

o AG Lynch was “stunned and confused” when informed of Comey’s plan to

reopen the investigation, and many Democrats called for his resignation.

Background on Democrats calling for resignation:

• Following Comey’s Oct. 28, 2016 letter to Congress, numerous Democrats said
Comey had behaved inappropriately and should resign or be fired.

o Democratic Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Comey was
perhaps “not in the right job.”

o Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) accused Comey of breaking
the law and said he “of course” should resign.

o Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Comey “acted in an outrageous way” and
that “it would not be a bad thing for the American People” if he stepped down.

o Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he was “appalled by what Comey did” and
that he did “not have confidence in him any longer.”

• In late 2016 throughout 2017, prominent Democrats publicly said Comey had
irreparably damaged the institution of law enforcement and the reputation of the FBI.
o Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) called Comey’s actions in 2016 one of the “lowest
moments in the history of the FBI.”

o Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said Comey had “damaged the institution of
law enforcement” in the country.

o Former Governor Howard Dean (D-VA) tweeted that Comey may have
“destroyed the credibility of the FBI forever” and put himself on the same side
as Putin.

o Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said Comey “has no credibility,” and said if
Hillary Clinton had won she should have fired him.
• Many Democrats called Comey’s actions unprecedented and inappropriate.
o Democrat Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton wrote that Comey had badly
overstepped his bounds as FBI Director.

o Minority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Comey’s actions during the
presidential campaign raised “serious questions about his conduct as an
investigator and prosecutor.”

o Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said Comey’s actions left her “shocked” and
were “appalling.”

o Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said Comey showed a “grave lack of judgment” and
had done “a disservice to the United States of America.”

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