Former FBI Director James Comey Speaks to John Pienaar on Domestic Radicalisation and More

Former Director of the FBI James Comey has told Times Radio that Donald Trump has radicalised his supporters in a similar way to members of Al Qaeda or Islamic State.

Speaking to John Pienaar, who's live in Washington, Mr Comey said Trump's supporters think they're "on the side of the angels":

"We have a significant threat now and going forward, because we have thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people in this country who have been radicalised, who have been fed a constant storm of lies by the President of the United States and those around him, that terrible wrongs have been done. And they're now on the side of the angels, and they must take their country back is very similar to the rhetoric and the radicalization of an Al Qaeda or an Islamic State. And so finding a way to deal with that threat is going to consume law enforcement for the foreseeable future. The good news is that the threat can be contained, it's in some ways less sophisticated than that coming from outside terrorists. But these domestic terrorists are armed, they're spread all over the country, and they believe they're on the side of the angels, that's deeply concerning. But we can be safe in our public events from these people."

Comey also said that although he'd like to prosecute Donald Trump personally, impeachment is the right way forward rather than prosecuting him directly for incitement to insurrection:

"The question I'm asking and I think come down on one side of, although it's very close, is should the nation grant Donald Trump by virtue of the 'United States versus Trump' prosecution for the next three years in the District of Columbia? Should we grant him centre stage, while Joe Biden tries to heal a nation both spiritually and physically? And I think the answer to that is no, we shouldn't grant him that. As painful decision as that is, we should instead have accountability through the impeachment, which proceeded, convicting him, barring him from serving future office, and then letting the local prosecutors up in New York continue to pursue him for the fraudster he was before he became president and put him in jail in New York State, but not give him the opportunity to dominate the way he's so craves, instead of pushing to the side of it, and let Joe Biden get about the business of healing this country."

And he described America as a "screwed up country" that "always gets better:

"America is a wonderful, complicated, often really screwed up country. And it always gets better. It's not a straight line up, we jag down in horrific ways, then we retreat back up the curve and make more progress. I'm optimistic this is another painful, and I wish hadn't happened, inflection point in American history, we will be okay. This country is complicated but fundamentally sound and you're about to see prosperity, energy and a return to a healthier centre than could be imagined in the chaos of the attack on the Capitol."

You can listen to John Pienaar at Drive live from Washington DC all this week, Monday to Thursday 4-7pm UKT, with the live coverage of inauguration Wednesday 20th of January at 5pm.

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