In new book, Comey calls Trump ‘untethered to truth’
WASHINGTON — Former FBI Director James Comey blasts 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.
Comey reveals new details about his interactions with Trump and his own decision-making in handling the Hillary Clinton email investigation before the 2016 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 regarding his investigation into Russian election interference.
The book adheres closely to Comey’s public testimony and written statements about his contacts with the president during the early days of the administration and his growing concern about the president’s integrity.
It also includes personal jabs at Trump that appear likely to irritate the president.
The 6-foot-8 Comey describes Trump as shorter Former FBI chief James Comey reveals new details about his interactions with the president in “A Higher Loyalty.” than he expected with a “too long” tie and “bright white half-moons” under his eyes that he suggests came from tanning goggles.
The book, “AHigher Loyalty,” is to be released next week. The Associated Press purchased a copy this week.
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.”
Comey’s account lands at a sensitive moment for Trump and the White House. Officials there describe Trump as enraged over a recent FBI raid of his personal lawyer’s office, home and hotel room, 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.
The Republican National Committee is poised to lead the pushback effort against Comey, who is set to do a series of interviews to promote the book, by launching a website and supplying television surrogates with talking points that question the former director’s credibility.
Trump has said he fired Comey because of his handling of the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s email practices. Trump repeatedly said Clinton should be jailed for using a personal email system while serving as secretary of state. Democrats have accused Comey of politicizing the investigation, and Clinton herself has said it hurt her election prospects.
Comey writes that he regrets his approach and some of the wording he used in his July 2016 news conference in which he announced the decision not to prosecute Clinton.
But he says he believes he did the right thing by going before the cameras and making his statement, noting that the Justice Depart- ment had done so in other high-profile cases.
Every person on the investigative team, Comey writes, found that there was no prosecutable case against Clinton and that the FBI didn’t find that she lied under questioning.
He also reveals that the U.S. government had unverified classified information that he believes could have been used to cast doubt on Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s independence in the Clinton probe.
While Comey does not outline the details of the information — and says he didn’t see indications of Lynch inappropriately influencing the investigation — he says it worried him that the material could be used to attack the integrity of the probe and the FBI’s independence.
Comey’s book will be scrutinized by the president’s legal team looking for any inconsistencies between it and his public testimony, under oath, before Congress. They will be l ooking to i mpeach Comey’s credibility as a key witness in Mueller’s obstruction investigation, which the president has cast as a political motivated witch hunt.