White House Says DOJ Should Consider Going After Comey

The White House has a new suggestion for Attorney General Jeff Sessions: Consider going after James Comey. Press chief Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president doesn't have the authority to order such an investigation but strongly suggested it would be a good idea. “I think if there's ever a moment where we feel someone's broken the law, particularly if they're the head of the FBI, I think that's something that certainly should be looked at,” Sanders said Tuesday, per the Washington Post. But she added that it's "not the president's role" to recommend such an investigation. As for the laws Comey is alleged to have broken, Sanders said Comey "leaked privileged government information" to the New York Times, though the Post notes the memo she's referring to wasn't classified.

Sanders also pushed back against criticism of Trump's firing of the FBI chief. “The president is proud of the decision that he made," she said, adding that he did so knowing it would be poltically unpopular. "The president was 100% right in firing James Comey." The comments come days after former White House adviser Steve Bannon told 60 Minutes that the firing was the biggest mistake in "modern political history," notes the New York Times. Previously, Comey told Congress that Trump asked him to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, an accusation Trump denies. (Flynn, meanwhile, is refusing to speak to the Senate Intelligence Committee.)