NEW YORK — In testimony, former FBI Director James Comey exclaimed “there’s no deep state” before going on to suggest that workers risk their jobs by “speaking out” –purportedly against President Donald Trump.
During testimony before the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees last week, Comey was asked by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) for suggestions on how the nation should get back “on track” after the “storm” it is currently weathering – a clear reference to Trump’s presidency.
Comey responded by launching into mini-speech about the resilience of America, while insisting there is no “deep state” and urging people to speak out:
We are going to be okay. I’m asked all over the country that question, and people ask it with fear in their voice, “Are we going to be okay?” Republicans, Democrats, and independents. The answer is: We’re going to be okay.
Because the culture of this nation, the culture of an institution like the FBI there’s no deep state. There’s a deep culture, in the military, in the intelligence community, in the FBI — those three I know very well — a commitment to integrity and the rule of law. No president serves long enough to screw that up. So the damage, by definition, will be short-term. Still important, but short-term. How short that term is depends upon the rest of us and whether we have the courage to risk our jobs and votes against us by standing up and saying this is not who we are and speaking out.
Still clearly addressing Trump’s presidency, Comey went on to state that the “giant,” as he described it, should wake up in response:
That will cabin the damage and reduce it, but, in the long term, this will be another one of those jags in American’s line that we look at and say, look at the progress we made after this. Every time there’s great change in this country, we retreat. Right? Our upward line is an upward line, but it’s jagged. Right? And every so often, we go down, then we go back up. The key to going back up is, in my view, awakening the giant. Right? That great lump in the middle of America is where our values sit. We are a center-right, center-left country. And every so often, the giant stirs.
And I’m going to get emotional if I say this. No one on this Earth knows this better than you, but when little girls were killed in Sunday school at the 16th Street Baptist Church, the giant stirred, and we got a Voting Rights Act and a Civil Rights Act and our line started up again.
It’s up and down with us, up and down with us. The inflection back up depends upon the giant waking up. And that’s not a Republican statement or a Democratic statement; that’s a values statement. And then we’ll get back to disagreeing about immigration and taxes and all of those important things, but this nonnegotiable thing, everyone should speak up about it.
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
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