Former FBI Director James Comey said “Russia succeeded” in influencing the 2016 election and warned “they’ll be back” for 2020.
“Russia succeeded in 2016 beyond its wildest dreams in its effort to damage our democracy, especially. They’ll be back. Especially given that the President [Trump] not only hasn’t criticized their effort, he’s denied it,” Mr. Comey said.
“I saw some poll that a majority of Republicans don’t think the Russians intervened in the 2016 election. That’s crazy stuff but that tells the Russians you’ll get away with it in 2020, so they’ll be back,” he added.
Mr. Comey added his investigations were into potential American involvement in Russian interference in the 2016 election, which is something he said “had to be done” as part of a counterintelligence probe.
The former FBI director was fired by President Trump in May 2017 for his handling of both the Russia investigation and the bureau’s probe into Hilary Clinton’s email controversy.
The Russia investigation would be taken over by special counsel Robert Mueller, who submitted his findings in March to Attorney General William Barr.
Mr. Barr’s four-page summary said Mr. Mueller found no evidence proving Mr. Trump and his campaign conspired with Russians, but chose to not make a determination on whether the president attempted to obstruct justice.
Mr. Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said the evidence of obstruction is not enough to pursue charges.
The Democratic-led Judiciary Committee announced a vote Wednesday to issue subpoenas for not only the Mueller report but the special counsel’s entire investigation if the report isn’t delivered in full by Tuesday.
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