CNN’s Amanpour to Comey: Should FBI Have ‘Allowed’ People to Chant ‘Lock Her Up?’ #GreatAwakening
In an exciting twist, CNN International anchor Christian Amanpour’s recent interview of James Comey ended up revealing more about Amanpour’s own wacky political beliefs than it did about the former FBI director. At one point, Amanpour left Comey momentarily stunned when she inquired whether the FBI should have “allowed” Trump supporters to chant “lock her up” during the 2016 election.
The pre-recorded segment occupied the first half of CNN’s 1:00 p.m. EDT hour on Monday. The first 20 minutes were largely unremarkable, featuring a discussion of Comey’s thoughts on the Mueller investigation.
Things took a partisan turn when the conversation shifted to the investigation into former State Secretary Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Here, Amanpour engaged in the time-honored media tradition of blaming Comey for Clinton’s defeat in the 2016 election: “Do you ever think that you might be responsible for the election of President Trump?” She added, “Does that keep you up at night?”
Amanpour was referring to Comey’s unprecedented announcement days before the 2016 election that the FBI had reopened its investigation into Clinton. She then inquired why the FBI had not also announced the existence of a Trump-Russia investigation: “Are you worried in hindsight that you didn’t bust any norm, or you didn’t tell the people that you were investigating Russian interference before the election?”
It appeared Amanpour’s gripe was not that Comey had broken with tradition, but rather that said break had harmed Clinton rather than Trump. Comey appeared taken aback by the question: “What would we disclose? It was all classified to begin with?” He added that such a reveal “would have been irresponsible in the extreme.”
Then came a question so out of touch with American politics that one wonders how Brian Stelter will inevitably try to defend it:
Of course, “Lock her up” was a feature of the 2016 Trump campaign. Do you, in retrospect, wish that people like yourself, the head of the FBI, I mean, the people in charge of law and order – had shut down that language?
She added that the chant was “kind of hate speech” and inquired thoughtfully, “Should that have been allowed?”
After a brief silence, Comey kindly explained to the British reporter how the First Amendment works: “That’s not a role for government to play... people can say what they want.”
Transcript to come shortly.
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