Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told Newsmax on Sunday he now regrets hiring James Comey to the U.S. attorney’s office decades ago, describing the former FBI director as a “publicity-hungry” prosecutor who later weaponized the justice system against political opponents.
Comey is now under federal indictment on charges of lying to Congress, a dramatic turn for the former top law enforcement official who once oversaw the FBI during high-profile probes into political figures.
But Giuliani told Newsmax’s “Sunday Agenda” that the charges against Comey underscore his own long-held concerns about Comey’s judgment and motives.
“It is very extraordinarily disappointing to have hired him,” Giuliani said. “I’m pretty realistic about things like that. I don’t worry myself about guilt that I can’t do anything about, because there’s plenty that I can do something about. I had no idea that he was anything but quite a good, but I can’t say great, but I can say average. He was a better-than-average to very good assistant U.S. attorney candidate.”
Giuliani, who led the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office in the 1980s before becoming mayor, said Comey’s early record did not indicate what he now describes as a pattern of self-promotion.
He cited Comey’s decision to bring charges against lifestyle entrepreneur Martha Stewart as the first sign of a prosecutor more concerned with headlines than justice.
“I thought the Martha Stewart case was the sign of a publicity-hungry, out-of-control prosecutor because of an unnecessary case,” Giuliani said. “You could look into your soul and very easily say, without any doubt, the case never would have been brought if it were your next-door neighbor, or just somebody else, or even a wealthy financial guy.”
Giuliani said his own practice at the time was to treat first-time insider trading cases with civil penalties rather than criminal charges.
Stewart, he argued, should have faced a fine and restrictions instead of prison time.
“He went ahead. He made a big deal out of it. He made a jerk out of himself doing it,” Giuliani said.
The former mayor also accused Comey of using press conferences to elevate himself rather than credit law enforcement officers.
“I use press conferences probably more than anyone, but never for self-aggrandizement,” Giuliani said. “When I said on 9/11 that I rested on the shoulders of giants, and it was the cops and the firefighters that did it, I had said that a thousand times as a U.S. attorney. He didn’t have that feeling. It was all about Jim Comey.”
Giuliani argued that Comey’s style of leadership set the stage for what he called political prosecutions against President Donald Trump and his allies.
“They’re the ones who weaponized, and now they’re pushing it on us,” he said, adding that he himself has faced multiple indictments that he described as politically motivated. “This is absolute Marxist tactics.”
Giuliani closed by insisting that any prosecutions under a future administration must avoid the excesses he accused Comey of practicing.
“We don’t put leg irons on them. We don’t send the Gestapo into the Comey house at two in the morning with the press notified,” he said. “Don’t tell me they’re not fascist.”
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