Politics

Bannon: There Would Be No Russia Investigation If Trump Hadn’t Fired Comey

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Former White House advisor Steve Bannon believes President Donald Trump’s decision to remove James Comey from his post as FBI director was the greatest mistake in modern political history.

Bannon told Charlie Rose that he opposed the firing of Comey, and that if Trump hadn’t gone through with the dismissal, he wouldn’t have been pressured to appoint Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate possible collusion between the presidential campaign and Russia.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that if James Comey had not been fired, we would not have a special counsel, yes,” Bannon said on the episode of “60 Minutes” that CBS posted Sunday evening. “We would not have the Mueller investigation. We would not have the Mueller investigation and the breadth that clearly Mr. Mueller is going for,” Bannon said.

Rose asked if Bannon thought the Comey dismissal was the biggest political blunder in history. “That would be probably — that probably would be too bombastic even for me, but maybe modern political history,” Bannon said.

“There’s nothing to the Russia investigation. It’s a waste of time. It’s a total and complete farce,” Bannon said. “Russian collusion is a farce.”

Mueller was appointed special counsel May 17, and assembled a team of investigators to look into evidence of collusion, but any wrongdoing the counsel uncovers is actionable.

The counsel empaneled a grand jury in Washington, D.C. August 3, and could begin delivering indictments at any time.
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