前联邦调查局局长詹姆斯·科米承认，他为自己的前机构利用《外国情报监视法》(FISA)调查特朗普竞选团队中俄罗斯干涉2016年选举的成员辩护时“过于自信”。
科米周日发表评论之前，司法部监察长迈克尔·霍罗威兹在其报告中总结称，三个独立的团队在FISA申请过程中出错，该过程启动了对特朗普竞选团队四名成员的调查。“他是对的，我错了，”科米谈到联邦调查局利用FISA进程时说。
但是科米指责福克斯新闻主播克里斯·华莱士坚持认为霍洛维茨的报道指责他严重失职或有意向FISA法庭撒谎。IG报告发现FISA申请中存在“重大不准确和遗漏”。
“这就是为什么我要告诉你我错了，我对我们的程序过于自信...这是不可接受的。”福克斯周日新闻。
然而，科米一再坚称，联邦调查局对俄罗斯干涉2016年选举和特朗普潜在竞选关系的调查是以恰当的方式启动的。但他指出，这种探测器有一个“低阈值”
这位前联邦调查局局长利用《福克斯新闻》的露面，再次指责特朗普政府指控自己和联邦调查局“叛国、非法间谍活动和非法窃听特朗普的电话”上周，科米在华盛顿邮报并出现在美国有线电视新闻网上，阐述他如何相信霍洛维茨的报告证明了自己和他的前机构免受特朗普及其支持者针对他们的“连珠炮似的诽谤和谎言”。
科米说，他之前在2018年就卡特·佩吉·FISA逮捕令得到妥善处理发表的评论是不恰当的——“确实是草率的，”他承认——在接受IG报告中发现的许多错误的个人责任之前。"作为主管，你对此负责，我对此负责."
但是科米继续在使用前英国情报官员克里斯托弗·斯蒂尔的档案上做文章，这是启动特朗普和俄罗斯勾结调查的一个因素。科米和华莱士不同意搞笑报告结论的语义，根据调查结果，科米说，“斯蒂尔的报告不是骗人的”。他还重申了此前公开宣称淡化斯蒂尔档案在逮捕令申请中的作用，称调查结果“并不是提交给法院的重要部分”
科米周日反复声明，联邦调查局并没有故意做错事，但表示该机构的成员可能会被指控为“真正粗心大意”他坚持认为霍洛维茨的报告只发现了“错误和疏忽”，而不是不当行为。
前联邦调查局局长詹姆斯·科米承认，他为联邦调查局利用FISA法庭调查特朗普竞选团队成员在2016年选举中的俄罗斯干涉辩护时“过于自信”。
'I WAS WRONG': FORMER FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY ADMITS FISA OVERSTEP, DOUBLES DOWN ON STEELE DOSSIER
Former FBI Director James Comey conceded he was "overconfident" in his defense of his former agency's use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to investigate members of the Trump campaign for Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Comey's Sunday comments followed Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluding in his report that three separate teams made errors in the FISA application process that started the investigation into four members of the Trump campaign. "He's right, I was wrong," Comey said of the FBI's use of the FISA process.
But Comey rebuked Fox News anchor Chris Wallace's insistence that Horowitz's report accused him of gross negligence or intending to lie to the FISA court. The IG report found "significant inaccuracies and omissions" in the FISA applications.
"That's why I'm telling you I was wrong, I was overconfident as director in our procedures ... which was not acceptable," Comey said on Fox News Sunday.
Comey, however, repeatedly insisted the FBI's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential Trump campaign ties was initiated in the proper way. But he noted that such a probe has a "low threshold."
The former FBI director used his Fox News appearance to once again rebuke the Trump administration for accusing himself and the FBI of "treason, illegal spying, and of tapping Mr. Trump's wires illegally." Last week, Comey wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post and appeared on CNN to lay out how he believes the Horowitz report vindicated himself and his former agency from the "torrent of smears and falsehoods" directed against them by Trump and his supporters.
Comey said previous comments he made in 2018 regarding the Carter Page FISA warrant being handled appropriately were out of line--"there was real sloppiness," he admitted--before accepting personal responsibility for many of the errors found in the IG report. "As director you are responsible for this, I was responsible for this."
But Comey went on to double-down on the use of ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele's dossier, which was a factor in kickstarting the Trump-Russian collusion investigation. Comey and Wallace disagreed on the semantics of the IG report conclusions, with Comey saying, "Steele's reporting was not bunk," based on the findings. He also reiterated previous public claims that downplayed the role of Steele's dossier in the warrant applications, saying the findings were "not a huge part of the presentation to the court."
Comey repeatedly stated on Sunday that the FBI did not intentionally commit wrongdoing, but said members of the agency could be accused of "real sloppiness." He insisted that Horowitz's report found only "mistakes and negligence" rather than misconduct.
