Just days after leaving his post as the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein slammed his former colleague James Comey during remarks at the Greater Baltimore Committee on Monday evening, calling him a “partisan pundit” who crossed “bright lines that should never be crossed.”
“Now, the former director is a partisan pundit, selling books and earning speaking fees while speculating about the strength of my character and the fate of my immortal soul,” Rosenstein said during the speech, according to Fox News footage of the event. “That is disappointing. Speculating about souls is not a job for police and prosecutors. Generally, we base our opinions on eyewitness testimony.”
The rebuke doesn’t come as a surprise. Earlier this month, the former FBI director slammed Rosenstein and Attorney General William Barr for having no “soul” and and no strength to “resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump.”
Rosenstein also criticized Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, but said he still respected Comey and considered him a friend. He suggested he would have handled his firing better if he’d been in charge.
“If I had been the decision maker, the removal would have been handled very differently, with far more respect and far less drama,” Rosenstein said. “So I do not blame the former director for being angry.”
Watch the speech below:
