Fired FBI Director James Comey shirked his "obligation to say something" to President Donald Trump if, as it has been reported, he asked an investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn be dropped, Karl Rove said Tuesday.
In an interview on Fox News' "The Story With Martha MacCallum," the GOP strategist and former Bush administration aide came to the defense of Trump amid the latest crisis to embroil the young administration.
"What about President [Barack] Obama publicly saying that Hillary Clinton had not done anything wrong, while the FBI is investigating whether or not she does something improper?" he asked.
"I think you have to apply that same standard to say it was inappropriate for the former president, while he was in office, while the [FBI] investigation was underway . . ."
Rove said Comey should have spoken up right away if he thought the president has crossed a line.
"It would seem that if the president said that, and Comey thought it was incorrect or improper, he should have said to the president, 'With all due respect, I don't think that is a kind of question you should be asking,'" he added.
"If he thought it was getting into the gray area, then, the best thing for him and for the president is for him to say, 'Better that you never asked me those kinds of questions. Better that you never raise the issues in that way.' So, if it was in the gray area, he had an obligation to say something to the president," he added.
"If it was not in the gray area, and it had crossed his line . . . he had an obligation to say something inside the Justice Department, to raise it to his superiors in the chain of command."