Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) (Screenshot)

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a member of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, says former FBI Director James Comey shirked his duties in a calculated effort to entrap President-Elect Donald Trump.

Comey failed to inform President-Elect Trump that his choice for national security advisor, Gen. Michael Flynn, was under criminal investigation - even though Trump directly asked him about Flynn - Rep. Issa said in a Fox News interview Monday:

“What we’re seeing is an out-of-control, corrupt – and I repeat that, corrupt – FBI director who was on a mission and forgot that his number one mission was to protect national security.” … “He fails to tell the president, when he’s the president-elect, that, in fact, they’re already doing this investigation. He, then, interviews the national security advisor, right after he becomes the national security advisor, in the White House, traps him into a lie – because they’ve already recorded his conversation with the Russian ambassador. “So, now, what they’re doing is, three days later, he sits there with President Trump. President Donald Trump, his boss, and President Trump asks about Flynn. And, what does Comey do: he doesn’t tell him that he’s got the goods on his national security advisor who has lied to the vice president.”

Comey had an obligation to tell Trump about Flynn, but didn’t because “He was always part of the ‘insurance policy’” against Pres. Trump, Issa said:

“Now, if you forget about all the criminal stuff and everything else, he had an obligation to let the president know that he has a national security advisor that was no at risk. But, if he had done the job properly, when he had unmasked Flynn to begin with, he would had gone to the president with that – and this would never have happened. “It was clear: he was always part of the 'insurance policy.' His goal was to entrap, not just General Flynn, but the president. And, he thinks he’s done it.”

“At the moment that he unmasked General Flynn talking to a foreign agent, he owed the president an explanation – unless he was trying to entrap the president-elect, if you will,” Rep. Issa explained.

But, Comey didn’t tell the president about Comey in an effort to fabricate a crime against Trump, Rep. Issa said:

“Remember, this is the Obama Administration getting the goods – the ‘insurance policy,’ if you will – on the president, creating a crime where there was no crime.” .... “But, Comey withholding this from the president when directly asked is, in fact, the kind of a thing that causes you to know that he was not only never loyal to the president but, even before Donald Trump was president; he was already part of souring the presidency by not giving him things that he needed to know. For example, not to have Flynn be his national security advisor.”

Comey’s had a three-step plan to go after the president, Rep. Issa charged:

Allow Flynn to become national security advisor by withholding vital information from Trump when directly asked about Flynn, Trap Flynn in a criminal charge, and Use the criminal charge to pressure Flynn to help him try to find a way to incriminate Trump