Comey’s book promises ‘truth’ about FBI tenure
Former colleagues worry bureau will take a beating
WASHINGTON – The last time an FBI director wrote a memoir, the American public got a personal account of a director’s fraught relationship with a U.S. president.
In that book, Louis Freeh devoted a chapter to his icy association with Bill Clinton, titled “Bill and Me.”
That was 2005, when Freeh and Clinton were long gone from their respective offices.
Thirteen years later, James Comey is set to drop a book about his own extraordinary tenure — cut short by the commander in chief.
Comey’s book arrives less than a year after President Trump fired Comey for his handling of the inquiry into Russia’s suspected interference in the 2016 election.
In his book A Higher Loyalty: Truth,
Lies, and Leadership, Comey likens Trump to a mob boss and describes the Trump presidency as a “forest fire,” reported The Washington Post, one of several media outlets that obtained a copy ahead of Tuesday’s release.
“This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values,” Comey wrote, according to
The New York Times. “His leadership is transactional, ego driven and about personal loyalty.”
The Justice Department’s inspector general is poised to release an assessment of how the FBI — under Comey’s leadership — handled the politically charged investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of State.
The timing could be a marketing bonanza for booksellers as Comey’s supporters and detractors brace for the likely firestorm to follow.
Last week, Trump taunted Comey on Twitter for closing what the president described as “a rigged investigation” into Clinton’s private email use. He accused the former FBI director and other former Justice officials of abusing surveillance authority in tracking Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. “BAD!” Trump tweeted Saturday. The critique was mild compared with Trump’s earlier characterizations of Comey as “a liar” and “a leaker,” language Trump used to describe the former director who testified before Congress last summer that he documented his personal encounters with the president, in part because he believed Trump could not be trusted.
Trump’s comments may preview what is to come with this book.
Ron Hosko, a former FBI assistant director who served briefly under Comey and supports him, said he doesn’t expect the book to change the minds of many who witnessed the turbulent months after the director’s firing. “In this hyper-contentious environment, the book may only deepen the political divide between those who support Comey and those who believe that Trump was right to dismiss him,” Hosko said.
“I enjoyed working for Jim Comey. He is personable, likable, smart and engaged. I think he was very good for the bureau. But I’m troubled by the timing of this,” he said, referring to the Russia investigation and the pending inspector general inquiry. “That said, I think he’s got something to say, and I’m still going to put down my 25 bucks.”
Chris Swecker, a former assistant FBI director who said Comey invited criticism for his handling of the Clinton inquiry, fears that Comey’s reappearance on the national stage risks drawing the bureau by extension further into Trump’s crosshairs. “I respect him, and I think he believes what he’s doing and what he has to say,” Swecker said. “But he’s wading right into the middle of a political firestorm. He’s putting the FBI in the political arena again just as (new FBI Director) Chris Wray tries to extricate the bureau from it.”