TWITTER TIRADE

Trump goes after Comey

WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump sharply attacked James Comey in a fusillade of tweets Sunday morning, calling for the former FBI director to be imprisoned as Trump served up a number of his favourite theories and alleged misdeeds without evidence.

Trump’s tweets are part of a broader effort by the White House and the Republican National Committee to discredit Comey, who has written a damaging tell-all book called A Higher Loyalty, to be released Tuesday.

Comey’s book is a scathing depiction of his interactions with Trump, in which he likens the president to an “unethical” mob boss and casts his inner circle in largely unflattering terms, saying it was more focused on politics than national security.

“I honestly never thought these words would ever come out of my mouth, but I don’t know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes, peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013,” Comey said, according to an excerpt released by ABC News. “It’s possible, but I don’t know.”

Those allegations about Trump were made in a disputed opposition-research dossier compiled by a former British spy — and have not been proven.

An array of surrogates, including presidential counsellor Kellyanne Conway and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, blanketed the airwaves this weekend to undermine Comey, as Trump unleashed a torrent of tweets that were often personal and fact-challenged.

Trump allies have often reminded the public of the many Democrats who excoriated Comey in 2016 and frequently labelled him a “liar and a leaker” over his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server issues.

Trump fired Comey as the FBI director in May amid a sprawling investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and any potential Trump campaign role in it. Comey’s firing spurred the appointment of a special counsel, Robert Mueller III, and a broader investigation into Trump’s campaign and administration — a probe that now includes potential obstruction of justice and Trump’s business dealings.

“The big questions in Comey’s badly reviewed book aren’t answered, like how come he gave up classified information ( jail), why did he lie to Congress ( jail), why did the DNC refuse to give server to the FBI (why didn’t they TAKE it), why the phoney memos, McCabe’s $700,000 & more?” the president tweeted before 8 a.m. Sunday.

Andrew McCabe was fired as deputy FBI director last month.

Comey has not been formally accused of disclosing classified information or lying to Congress.