Comey, Trump fire away at each other
EX-FBI chief, his book take flak from both sides
WASHINGTON — Former FBI Director James Comey said in an interview that aired Sunday that he thinks it’s possible the Russians have compromising information on President Donald Trump, that there is “some evidence of obstruction of justice” in the president’s actions and that Trump is “morally unfit” for office.
Hours before the interview aired, the president, who fired Comey last year, labeled Comey on Twitter “slippery,” suggested he should be put in jail and branded him “the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!”
Comey’s televised remarks and the release of his forthcoming book offer his version of events surrounding his firing and the investigations into Russian election meddling and Hillary Clinton’s email practices.
The FBI director, who until his firing last May led an investigation into possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, acknowledged that it was “stunning” to think that Russia could have damaging information about an American president. But he said that in Trump’s case, he could not discount the possibility that the president had been compromised.
“These are more words I never thought I’d utter about a president of the United States, but it’s possible,” Comey told ABC News’ chief anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Trump on Sunday rejected Comey’s assertion that he had sought his loyalty at a January 2017 dinner, saying, “I hardly even knew this guy. Just another of his many lies.”
Before the interview, Trump seized on a book excerpt released Saturday in which Comey said his belief that Clinton would beat Trump in the
2016 presidential election was probably a factor in his decision to disclose the investigation into her emails. Comey, Trump tweeted, “was making decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win, and he wanted a job. Slimeball!”
Comey’s disclosure shortly before the election that the FBI had reopened its probe enraged Democrats.
Comey again defended his actions, telling ABC that he made what he thought was the best decision at the time.
Also Sunday, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch pushed back against Comey’s criticism in the book that early in the Clinton email inquiry, she had instructed him to refer to it as a “matter” rather than an “investigation.”
In a statement Sunday, Lynch said she followed Justice Department protocol against confirming or denying the existence of an investigation.