Trump ‘morally unfit to be president,’ Comey says
Former FBI Director James Comey said in his first televised interview since being fired that he believed Donald Trump was “morally unfit to be president,” and that the Russians possibly had material that could be used to blackmail him.
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC late Sunday, Comey compared Trump’s administration to a mafia family, likening his presidency to a forest fire and asserting evidence he had committed a crime.
He said he didn’t favor removing Trump from office, because that “would let the American people off the hook and have something happen indirectly that I believe they’re duty-bound to do directly” through elections. But he said Trump was unfit to hold the position and he “does not reflect the values of this country.”
Comey is set to release a book and embark on a media tour to promote it. Much of what he said to Stephanopoulos, is in the book.
On Sunday morning, Trump tweeted criticism of Comey, denying some of Comey’s allegations and alleging that Comey revealed classified information and lied to Congress.
“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!” Trump wrote.
Comey described in great detail several conversations he had with Trump, telling Stephanopoulos of how the president asked for his loyalty and how that interaction and others reminded him of his time as a prosecutor in New York pursuing mob families, for whom loyalty to the boss and the organization were the only values that mattered.
“It’s the family, the family, the family, the family,” Comey said.
Trump has denied asking for Comey’s loyalty.
Comey took aim at Trump’s personal appearance, remarking how his “tie was too long, as it always is” and that his face “looked slightly orange up close with small white - half moons under his eyes, which I assume are from tanning goggles.”
The former FBI boss acknowledged he had grave misgivings about the Trump presidency even before it began.
In a meeting with President Barack Obama in the last days of his administration, Comey says he told the president: “I dread the next four years. But in many ways, I feel great pressure to stay to try and protect the institution I lead.”
While Trump bore the brunt of his criticism, Comey also took aim at others — including Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whom Trump has been contemplating removing from his post.
Comey said Rosenstein had “acted dishonorably” in authoring a memo lambasting Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Trump cited the memo in firing Comey, and Comey said he came to believe Rosenstein was “part of the family now. I can’t trust him.”
As he has in the past, Comey offered a vigorous defense of his handling of the Clinton email investigation.
Parts of the interview are likely to revive the fury of Clinton supporters who think he cost her the presidency by reopening the email investigation less than two weeks before the election.
When Stephanopoulos asked him if the decision was “influenced by your assumption that Hillary Clinton was going to win,” Comey replied: “It must have been. I don’t remember consciously thinking about that, but it must have been. ‘Cause I was operating in a world where Hillary Clinton was going to beat Donald Trump.”
He also said he was sorry for how he handled the first announcement in July 2016 that he was closing the Clinton email probe without seeking any charges. He says he agrees now with the criticism that his remarks muddied important issues.
“I’m sorry that I caused all kinds of confusion and pain with the way I described her conduct that led people into all kinds of side roads,” Comey said.
Comey said he didn’t believe the allegation, but feared that Throughout the interview, Comey stressed the importance of telling the truth.