Thursday on MSNBC’s “MTP Daily,” Sen. Susan Collins reacted to former FBI Director James Comey’s claim in a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing earlier in the day that he was behind a leak of a memo that detailed his interaction with President Donald Trump.
Collins said she didn’t think it was “appropriate” for Comey to have done that, despite Comey’s argument it was his own account as a private citizen.
Partial transcript as follows:
COLLINS: I must admit that I did not know. And that it came as a big surprise to me. In fact, I was stunned at the revelation.
When I asked the question, I wondered whom the director had shown his memos to.
TODD: Sure.
COLLINS: I did not expect him to admit that he had given them to a friend of his, with the express purpose of having that friend leak it to the media in order to prompt the appointment of a special counsel which it did.
TODD: Your just reaction to that. Appropriate?
COLLINS: The — I don’t think it was appropriate. I would argue that that was a government-produced document. It was work document. And I think it qualifies as a leak.
The irony is that the former director of the FBI has always been very annoyed when there are leaks.
TODD: Right, of all people.
COLLINS: And then, it turns out that he leaked a document himself.
TODD: Do you believe Director Comey was forthcoming with you guys today?
COLLINS: I do. I believe that his testimony, which was under oath, was candid. It was straightforward. It was quite thorough.
He answered the questions that he could answer. There were some that got into the lane of the special counsel which he appropriately could not answer.
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