California Attorney General Xavier Becerra lashed out at House Speaker Paul Ryan in a new interview in which Becerra discussed Ryan’s defense of President Donald Trump’s interactions with former FBI Director James Comey.
Becerra labeled Ryan Trump’s “accomplice” in the AG’s interview with the Associated Press. He was referencing comments Ryan made in a Thursday news conference that occurred while former FBI Director James Comey was testifying before Congress on Capitol Hill.
By the end of Comey’s testimony he had admitted leaking information from privileged conversations with Trump to the media through a friend and that, while still serving as FBI Director, he told the President multiple times that Trump was not under FBI investigation for alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
In written comments for the hearing, Comey claimed that in a February 14 interaction with Trump, the President said to him, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.”
Ryan was asked in the Thursday press conference about the interaction between the two men. The Speaker said of Trump, “The President’s new at this. He’s new to government. So, he probably wasn’t steeped in the long-running protocols that establish the relationships between DOJ, FBI and White Houses.” Pressed by a CNN reporter, Ryan added of Trump, “he is learning as he goes.”
Trump has denied ever having asked Comey to drop the investigation into now-former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
In the AP interview, California AG Becerra attacked Ryan’s tepid defense of Trump, “How dare you say it’s a novice mistake?”
Back in December, as Becerra awaited confirmation of his position as California’s next Attorney General, NBC News cited USC professor and director of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute Robert Suro, who said that Becerra could become the new face of the Trump “resistance.” Suro added, “…that is a very popular idea in a lot of places, that California Democrats are going to be the vanguard of opposition to the Trump administration.”
UCLA Blue Print reporter Jim Newton called Becerra the point of the spear that is California when it comes to resisting Trump on immigration enforcement and climate change.
Becerra claimed to the AP that he has tried to engage with the Trump administration on their plans for immigration enforcement, but has been unsuccessful. “I’m not trying to thwart ICE from doing its work, they’re doing some really important stuff and we’re doing some really important stuff with them,” Becerra claimed. He told the outlet that he was open to working with the administration on issues of sex trafficking and illegal drugs.
California Democrats have been pushing hard and fast to pass a bill that would officially make California a “sanctuary state.” State officials have been among the most outspoken against the Trump Administration.
Becerra left his seat in Congress last January to take up the position of California Attorney General that now-Senator Kamala Harris vacated. Democrat Harris won election to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer.
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