President Donald Trump should be convicted by the Senate but not criminally prosecuted for inciting Capitol rioters, former FBI Director James Comey said Sunday, adding that it would give America space to “heal.”
“The country would be better off if we did not give him the platform that a prosecution would for the next three years,” Comey told the British broadcaster Sky News, which like NBC News, is owned by Comcast Corp.
“Instead, turn off the camera lights,” said Comey, whom Trump fired as FBI director in 2017 while he was leading an investigation into possible collusion with Russia by Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
“I’d like to see some of the lights go out and he can stand on the front lawn at Mar-a-Lago and shout at cars in his bathrobe and none of us will hear it,” he said.
Trump became the first president to be impeached twice last week for his role in encouraging a violent mob of his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
