The way President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey was "insulting" to a first-rate lawman and "demeaning" to the nation's top law enforcement agency, Ron Hosko, former assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Instigative Division, told Newsmax TV.
"Jim Comey the person, the director I worked with, was incredibly personable, articulate, smart on issues, quick on the uptake, experienced as a prosecutor and as a DOJ administrator," Hosko, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, told "J.D. Hayworth on Newsmax TV."
"Frankly, I'm offended by the manner in which they did it, which I think was insulting to both this person, Jim Comey, the patriot and good American, and the professionals in the FBI.
"He was on the West Coast in a meeting and essentially saw the information scrolling up on TV screens behind him. That's how he found out. To me, that demeans him, and demeans the men and women of the FBI."
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Comey was handed his walking papers Tuesday, reportedly days after requesting more funding for the FBI's probe of alleged ties between the Russian government and members of Trump's campaign team.
Hosko said in today's toxic political atmosphere in Washington, D.C., it is not surprising Comey got the ax. Part of it was his reopening of the Hillary Clinton email investigation shortly before the election – and act any believe helped give Trump the victory.
"Jim Comey was a patriotic American who came to the FBI from a private industry, a far more lucrative position that I would imagine had great, far amount of less stress than he faced as the FBI director," Hosko told Hayworth.
"[He was] apolitical, in my view, wanted to let investigations run their course. The director's job is not to run an investigation, it's to be briefed on the progress of an investigation, ideally to remove barriers and hurdles that might stand in the agents' way, always to be respectful of the Constitution.
"I think that [the reopening of the email probe] is certainly is among the perceived sins, and the truth is, I think fair-minded people could come to that conclusion . . . It went far beyond what FBI leaders would typically do, and could potentially be sanctioned for, had they done it."
But Hosko said he believes any action against Comey should have been delayed until an investigation by the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General had been completed.
The Inspector General announced in January it would evaluate the FBI's handling of its investigation into Clinton's email use to assess whether federal guidelines and policies were followed.
"I think that the DOJ could have waited until the inspector general's report if they were determined to relieve themselves of Jim Comey's leadership," Hosko said.
"They could have waited for the inspector general to come back and clarify and crystalize the findings, policy versus what he did. First, I don't believe for a second that what he did he did for political reasons, or because he had a vendetta, pro or against.”
Andrew McCabe, who joined the FBI 20 years ago and was promoted to deputy director last year, was named acting FBI director Wednesday until a fulltime replacement is found.
“Andy's a very smart and capable guy, but there is at minimum a perception problem," Hosko said. ". . . My hope is that he will run the organization like he must as the acting director and go straight forward with the cases that come up while we wait to hear for someone who does not have that optics problem.
"I hope [it is] someone who has strong bipartisan support, a consensus nominee who can easily pass muster in a Senate confirmation hearing . . . who is apolitical, knows this job from the inside of the DoJ, that has great relationships with the FBI already existing, like Jim Comey did.
"[Someone who] can run this in a way that restores trust, and faith, and confidence in the organization that I think has been damaged in part by political forces, in part by the media focusing of those political wins. It's a very, very difficult job."
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