Comey book paints Trump in bad light
UNITED STATES: Former FBI director James Comey blasts US President Donald Trump as unethical and ‘‘untethered to truth’’ and calls his leadership of the country ‘‘ego-driven and about personal loyalty’’ in a forthcoming book.
A Higher Loyalty, which is due to be released next week, reveals new details about Comey’s interactions with Trump and his own decision-making in handling the Hillary Clinton email investigation before the 2016 presidential election. He casts Trump as a mafia boss-like figure who sought to blur the line between law enforcement and politics and tried to pressure him personally regarding his investigation into Russian election interference.
The book adheres closely to Comey’s public testimony and written statements about his contacts with Trump during the early days of the administration and his growing concern about the president’s integrity. It also includes strikingly personal jabs.
The 2.03-metre Comey describes Trump as shorter than he expected, with a ‘‘too long’’ tie and ‘‘bright white half-moons’’ under his eyes that he suggests came from tanning goggles. He also says he made a conscious effort to check the president’s hand size, saying it was ‘‘smaller than mine but did not seem unusually so’’.
Comey also describes Trump weighing whether to ask the FBI to investigate, with an eye towards debunking, a salacious allegation involving Trump and Russian prostitutes urinating on a bed in a Moscow hotel. Trump has strongly denied the allegation, and Comey says that it appeared that the president wanted it investigated to reassure his wife, Melania.
Trump fired Comey in May 2017, setting off a scramble at the Justice Department that led to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation. Mueller’s probe has expanded to include whether Trump obstructed justice by firing Comey, an idea the president denies.
Trump has assailed Comey as a ‘‘showboat’’ and a ‘‘liar’’.
White House officials describe Trump as enraged over a recent FBI raid of his personal lawyer’s home and office, raising the prospect that he could fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, or try to shut down the probe on his own.
Trump has said he fired Comey because of his handling of the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s email practices. Clinton has said it hurt her election prospects.
Comey writes that he regrets his approach and some of the wording he used at a July 2016 press conference in which he announced the decision not to prosecute Clinton. But he says he believes he did the right thing by making his statement.
He also reveals new details about how the government had unverified classified information that he believes could have been used to cast doubt on thenAttorney General Loretta Lynch’s independence in the Clinton probe.
– AP