Trump: Comey 'Guilty of Crimes,' DOJ Not Doing Its Job

President Donald Trump Thursday blasted former FBI Director James Comey as a leaker and liar who is "guilty of crimes," and complained about the Justice Department not doing its job to handle him.

"He is guilty of crimes, and if we had a Justice Department that was doing their job instead of…" he began during a telephone interview with Fox News' "Fox and Friends," before show co-host Steve Doocy reminded him that as president, he is in charge of the Justice Department and that a Republican, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, heads it.

"I answer this all the time," Trump continued. "Because of the fact that they have this witch-hunt going on with people in the Justice Department that shouldn't be there, they have a witch-hunt against the president of the United States going on, I have taken the position, and I don't have to take this position and maybe I'll change, that I will not be involved with the Justice Department."

But that may change, said Trump, "because what is going on is a disgrace. It is an absolute disgrace."

.Instead, he said he'll wait until the Russia investigation is over to be more involved, as it is "all lies and it is a horrible thing. Yet I have accomplished with all of this going on more than any president in the first year in our history. Everybody, even the enemies and haters, admit that."

Comey, during a CNN Town Hall event Thursday night, disputed claims that he is aleaker, but instead that he gave memos to a friend, Dr. Daniel Richman at Columbia Law School, with the express intention to share them with the media.

However, Richman admitted to Fox News this week that he had special government employee status with the FBI under Comey.

"Comey is a leaker and he is a liar and not only on this stuff, he has been leaking for years," said Trump. "He is probably been using his friend, the so-called professor who turns out to have FBI clearance he never said, he lied about that he never said that in Congress. He said he gave it to a friend. He gave it to a friend to leak classified information."

The leaked document, a memo after Comey met with Trump, was leaked "to get a special counsel against me," said the president, but the counsel, Robert Mueller, has not found evidence of collusion with Russia.

"Nobody has been tougher to Russia than I am," said Trump. "You can ask President [Vladimir] Putin about that. There has been nobody. Between military and oil and all the other things I've done, aluminum tax, they send us a lot of aluminum. I put tariffs on aluminum coming in."

"There is no collusion whatsoever, so Comey, what he did was terrible," said Trump. "He leaked classified information in order to try and get a special counsel."

Comey has said the material wasn't classified, but Trump argued Thursday that it was.

"Nobody unclassified them," said Trump of the documents. "The memos were about me. They are phony memos. He didn't write the memos accurately. He put a lot of phony stuff in. I went to Russia a day or so, a day or two, because I own the Miss Universe pageant. I went there to watch it near Moscow. I go to Russia."

Trump, railing against CNN, NBC and other networks, said he doesn't watch them, but he did watch "leaking, lying Comey" and his town hall with Anderson Cooper.

"I did watch," he said. "I did watch a liar, leaker. His performance by the way was horrible. Will say this, Anderson Cooper was surprisingly tough and he did a good job."

Trump also claimed the FBI loves him and he loves the FBI, but the top people, headed by Comey, "were crooked."

"Look at McCabe, he takes $700,000 from somebody supporting Hillary Clinton," said Trump. "He takes $700,000 for his wife's campaign...and our Justice Department, which I try and stay away from, but at some point I won't, our Justice Department should be looking at that kind of stuff, not the nonsense of collusion with Russia. There is no collusion with me and Russia. And everyone knows it. "