Democrats join Trump in ripping Comey

WASHINGTON — When it comes to James Comey’s book-tour crusade against President Donald Trump, the question for hard-core Hillary Clinton fans boils down to this: Curse Comey, or cheer him? Curse him, mostly. They may be cardcarrying members of “the Resistance,” who oppose everything that the president stands for, but Clinton’s former aides and advisers are still too angry at Comey, the former FBI director, to see past what they view as his egregious actions that may have handed the White House to Trump.

In interviews, Twitter posts, television appearances and private grumblings, Team Hillary is using Comey’s tell-all book to relitigate their grievances, even at the risk of undermining Comey’s credibility and handing Republicans — and Trump himself — more ammunition to question the character of one of the president’s most high-profile political adversaries.

“The damage Comey did to the country by the role he played in the election far, far surpasses any credit he now gets for calling Trump out,” said Jared Bernstein, who served as one of Clinton’s senior economic advisers during the campaign. “History will remember and judge him for the former, not the latter.”

In his book, “A Higher Loyalty,” Comey staunchly defends his actions during one of the country’s mostpolarized campaigns. He says that holding a news conference to clear Clinton of mishandling emails was the right thing to do to protect the independent reputation of the FBI. And he says that publicly reopening the email case 11 days before the election was a no-win situation, and he argues that covering it up would have been worse.