Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
President ‘morally unfit’ for position
FORMER FBI director James Comey says he thinks Donald Trump is morally unfit to be the US president.
In a TV interview for ABC News, Mr Comey also said he thought it was possible the Russians had compromising information on Mr Trump, and there was “some evidence of obstruction of justice” in the president’s actions.
His comments were almost certain to escalate his war of words with the president and further erode a relationship marked by open hostility.
Hours before the interview aired, the president, who fired Mr Comey last year, unleashed a Twitter outburst that labelled Mr Comey “slippery”, suggesting he should be put in jail.
Mr Comey’s televised remarks, coupled with the release of his forthcoming book, offer his version of events surrounding his firing and the investigations into Russian election meddling and Hillary Clinton’s email practices.
Several of the episodes he describes in detail, including a private conversation about former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn, are central to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and his recollections are presumably valuable for prosecutors examining whether the president’s actions constitute obstruction of justice.
The FBI director, who until his firing last May led an investigation into possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, acknowledged it was “stunning” to think Russia could have damaging information about an American president.
But he said that in Mr Trump’s case, he could not discount the possibility the president had been compromised.
“These are more words I never thought I’d utter about a president of the United States, but it’s possible,” Mr Comey said.
He also answered “possibly” when asked if the president was attempting to obstruct justice when he cleared the Oval Office of other officials last February before encouraging him to close the investigation into Mr Flynn, who by that point was suspected of lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts.
The retired general pleaded guilty last December and is now cooperating with Mueller’s investigation.
Mr Comey also said he believed Trump was “morally unfit” to be president.
Mr Trump fired Mr Comey in May last year, setting off a scramble at the Justice Department that led to the appointment of Mueller as special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation.