GOP launches campaign to discredit Comey
WASHINGTON — In advance of a publicity tour by James Comey to promote his new book, the Republican National Committee is preparing a widespread campaign to undercut his credibility, including a new website that dubs the former FBI Director as “Lyin’ Comey.”
The website prominently features quotes from Democrats highly critical of Comey before his firing by Trump nearly a year ago as the president grew agitated by the Russia probe.
RNC officials say their effort will also include digital ads, a “war room” to monitor Comey’s television appearances, a rapid response team to rebut his claims in real time and coordination of Trump surrogates to fan out across other TV programs.
The broadside against Comey, a registered Republican for most of his adult life, comes as he is set to begin a media tour to tout his memoir, “A Higher Loyalty” — which, according to copies leaked Thursday, paints a devastating portrait of a president who built “a cocoon of alternative reality that he was busily wrapping around all of us.”
In advance of the book’s release Tuesday, Comey is scheduled to appear in an interview airing Sunday night with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. A teaser for the interview says Comey compares Trump to a “mob boss.”
In a statement, RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said: “James Comey’s publicity tour is a self-serving attempt to make money and rehabilitate his own image. If Comey wants the spotlight back on him, we’ll make sure the American people understand why he has no one but himself to blame for his complete lack of credibility.”
The RNC effort underscores the incredibly high stakes for Trump and his party as Comey details his interactions with the president, including his claim that Trump asked for a loyalty test. Many Democrats, meanwhile, are hopeful that new revelations will further bolster a case for the president’s impeachment.
Doug Heye, a former RNC communications director, said the Republican effort shows Comey’s publicity tour is “going to dominate news coverage. He’s going to seemingly everywhere.”
But Heye said the RNC is doing its job. “It would be political malpractice not to do this,” he said.
Heye said the biggest challenge for Republicans could be combating claims from Comey that have not previously made headlines.
As part of its effort, the RNC is also distributing talking points to Trump surrogates to further its case against Comey. Among them: “Comey is a consummate Washington insider who knows how to work the media to protect his flanks,” and “Americans will remember that his attempts to smear the Trump administration are nothing more than retaliation by a disgraced former official.”
Though Comey was a registered Republican for most of his adult life, he has said he no longer is. He was appointed U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and deputy attorney general by President George W. Bush; he was appointed FBI director by President Barack Obama.