Sen. Coons: “It is completely unacceptable for the president to ask the FBI director to be personally loyal to him”

Sen. Coons: “President Trump either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care about the longstanding importance of the independence of the FBI director”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined Morning Joe this morning ahead of former FBI Director Jim Comey’s testimony in the Senate today.

“What struck me is that it is completely unacceptable for the president to ask the FBI director to be personally loyal to him and to ask the FBI director to drop it with regards to an ongoing investigation into his former national security advisor,” said Senator Coons. “President Trump either doesn't understand or doesn't care about the longstanding importance of the independence of the FBI director. I think when FBI director Jim Comey gets his chance to testify today, it will reinforce to the American people that we have a significant problem with a president who is engaged in certainly unwise, certainly unethical conduct in the White House.”

Full audio and video available here. 

Excerpts from the interview:

Senator Coons on Comey’s testimony: What struck me was that it is completely unacceptable for the president to ask the FBI director to be personally loyal to him and to ask the FBI director to drop it with regards to an ongoing investigation into his former national security advisor. President Trump either doesn't understand or doesn't care about the longstanding importance of the independence of the FBI director. I think when FBI director Jim Comey gets his chance to testify today, it will reinforce to the American people that we have a significant problem with a president who is engaged in certainly unwise, certainly unethical conduct in the White House. 

More on today’s testimony and possible obstruction of justice: As an attorney, I'm going to approach that question very carefully. I think that's the point of having an investigation led by Bob Mueller, a very seasoned, very senior career law enforcement official. As I said, I think the statements we'll hear today from former FBI Director Jim Comey make it clear that the president crossed a line, that the president engaged in unwise and unethical conduct. Whether it meets the line of obstruction of justice is up for the prosecutor to make. This certainly suggests to all of us in the United States Senate that we've got a president who is operating well outside the acceptable boundaries with regards to federal law enforcement. I think that's frankly why you don't have Republican senators on the show this morning defending President Trump's actions. 

Senator Coons on whether he read anything illegal in Comey’s statement: It is right up against that line. There are key issues here of intent and context. Certainly if I were being asked to make a judgment on that, I think there's reason to proceed seriously with an investigation, but I think we also have to be careful about making legal conclusions and not getting in the way of Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation.

Senator Coons on how this testimony will affect foreign policy: That’s a great question. I just returned from an Asia-Pacific regional security conference in Singapore. I traveled with two senior Republicans, John McCain, chairman of Armed Services, and John Barrasso of Wyoming. We went to Vietnam, we went to Singapore, and met with leaders of seven different nations in the region. They're gravely concerned about the extent the United States is distracted and is withdrawing from our leadership role in the Pacific. In a previous conference in the North Atlantic that I also went to a few months ago with Senator McCain, I heard the same thing from our Eastern European and NATO allies; they're concerned that this will distract us. I'm frankly both sad and angry. I'm sad I introduced a bipartisan bill about manufacturing yesterday and we're not going to talk about that and it frankly probably won't move. I'm frankly angry with this president that he's taken us so far off course from what was a well-established path of independence for the FBI and federal law enforcement.  

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