House Speaker Paul Ryan says Comey is not a 'nut job,' differs with Trump comments
The House leader said he liked Comey.
— -- House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday he disagreed with President Trump's description of former FBI Director James Comey as a "nut job."
"I don't agree with that, and he's not," Ryan, R-Wis., said in an interview with Mike Allen of the media company Axios.
The New York Times reported Friday that Trump called Comey a "nut job" in his Oval Office meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, one day after firing Comey. The White House did not deny the report to ABC News.
"I like Jim Comey," Ryan said Wednesday. "I know that there are people on both sides of the aisle who are concerned about decisions he made."
Ryan said Comey was put in an "impossible position" at the FBI with the Hillary Clinton email investigation, after former President Bill Clinton met briefly with then–Attorney General Loretta Lynch at an airport in Phoenix.
After that encounter, Lynch said she would accept the recommendation of the FBI in the investigation, recusing herself from leadership of the probe.
Ryan said he supported letting the Russian election interference investigations "take their course" at the Department of Justice and on Capitol Hill, declining to comment about items "under ongoing review."
He praised Trump's "energy and engagement," noting his involvement in passing the GOP health care bill in the House.
"I've never seen a president ... get so deeply engaged on a person-to-person basis to help achieve a goal," he said.
Ryan predicted that Congress will be able to send Trump a tax reform bill by Dec. 23, the end of this year's legislative session.