Trump calls for EX-FBI director to be jailed
Donald Trump called for James Comey, the former director of the FBI, to be jailed, accusing him of revealing classified information and lying to Congress. On Twitter, the US President called him a “slimeball”. Comey was due to be interviewed on TV last night.
DONALD TRUMP yesterday called for James Comey, the former FBI director, to be jailed, accusing him of revealing classified information and of lying to Congress.
In addition to suggesting the former intelligence chief be incarcerated, the US president called him “slippery” and a “slimeball” and said he would go down as the worst FBI director in history, during a Twitter rant that spanned the course of two hours yesterday morning.
He also challenged accusations made by the former FBI director in a tell-all book that is due for release this week.
Mr Trump wrote: “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 phony memos, Mccabe’s $700,000 & more?”
He added: “I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty. I hardly even knew this guy. Just another of his many lies. His “memos” are self serving and FAKE!”
And shortly after came: “Slippery James Comey, a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!”
The two men have been involved in a ferocious war of words since the president fired Mr Comey last May amid the investigation into his 2016 campaign and Russian meddling in the election.
It was Mr Comey’s firing that prompted the appointment of Robert Mueller, the special counsel.
Mr Comey later testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee that Mr Trump had asked him for “loyalty” at a January dinner, and that alone in the Oval Office Mr Trump had said to him that he “hoped” he could let the investigation into former national security director Michael Flynn “go”.
His evidence opened up the president to accusations of obstruction of justice, which Mr Trump has repeatedly and strongly denied.
Mr Comey’s memoir, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership, is released tomorrow, but has already become a bestseller thanks to huge pre-publication sales.
Last night, ABC was due to air a lengthy interview to kick-off Mr Comey’s book tour, which was expected to attract millions of viewers.
Extracts that emerged last week showed Mr Comey likened the president to an “unethical” mob boss who is “untethered” to the truth, casts his inner circle poorly and details an obsession with a dossier written by Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote of rumoured engagements with prostitutes.
Mr Comey writes: “What is happening now is not normal. It is not fake news. It is not okay,” describing “the forest fire that is the Trump presidency”.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s approval rating stands at its highest since his first 100 days in office, at 40 per cent. The Washington POST-ABC News poll showed his popularity up four per cent from January.
Among white voters, he has 53 per cent support, up seven points since the beginning of the year, and among white men without college degrees he is up six per cent to 70 per cent. Almost three quarters of conservatives, 74 per cent, approve of the president in the latest poll, up nine points from January.