People like President Trump, who are criticizing James Comey ahead of his book release, "will rot in hell," said Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) in an interview Friday.
Here's a transcript from his CNN appearance:
BOLDUAN: “That’s what Republicans are doing right now, they’re running sound bites that you all made, things you all said after the election about James Comey.”
HIMES: “No, Kate, I’ll stop you there. Reality matters, especially when we’re talking about the integrity of the F.B.I. Lots of people, Democrats, lawyers, judges, were very concerned by Comey’s breaking of protocol and publicly discussing Hillary Clinton. Remember it was the Hillary Clinton investigation that he discussed while there was an investigation of Donald Trump. So, we should have a conversation and I think Jim Comey is reflective about whether he made the right thing. But the idea this man is dishonest, and remember this is all part and parcel of the attempt that the White House is making to besmirch Robert Mueller, a decorated war hero. That’s what is happening here. So yes, let’s have that conversation about whether Jim Comey made the right move in talking about the Hillary Clinton thing, but people will rot in hell for besmirching the reputation, the integrity and the professional history of these two men.”
BOLDUAN: “We have been talking about no love lost between the President and Jim Comey for a while now. Why is this — you’re angry. Why is this making you angry?”
HIMES: “You know why? Because here in Washington you get to have a fight about things like whether Jim Comey should have talked about the Hillary Clinton investigation. That upset a lot of Democrats. It might have cost Hillary Clinton the election. Who knows? You get to have a conversation about the tax code. You get to have a conversation about tariffs in China. You do not get to take men like Bob Mueller and Jim Comey, who have done nothing but try to serve this country in the most extraordinary circumstances,and using the apparatus of the White House, the most powerful office in the land, and the Republican, the Republican National Committee, the party of Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, to trash the integrity of a good man. That’s when you step over, that’s when this country starts coming apart, when it is okay for the president and the White House and the storied Republican Party — I’m a Democrat, but you know what, I’m enormously proud of what the Republican Party used to be. When those tools get used to trash the integrity of two good men, this country has gone over a cliff.”