April 13 (UPI) — Former FBI Director James Comey‘s book will hit bookshelves next week, but released excerpts from the memoir shed light on his brief relationship with President Donald Trump.
In his book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership,” Comey gives a largely unfavorable assessment of the president, comparing him to a mob boss and calling him “unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values.” Trump has already countered those claims, saying on Twitter that Comey is an “untruthful slime ball” and was a “terrible director of the FBI.”
Comey drew upon his past job experience combatting organized crime to describe Trump in his book.
“The silent circle of assent,” Comey wrote of similarities he thought existed between Trump and mob bosses. “The boss in complete control. The loyalty oaths. The us-versus-them worldview. The lying about all things, large and small, in service to some code of loyalty that put the organization above morality and above the truth.”
However, the ex-FBI director stopped short of accusing the president of any criminal wrongdoing. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigatingTrump’s 2016 campaign team for possible collusion with Russian efforts to influence the presidential race.
“I have one perspective on the behavior I saw, which while disturbing and violating basic norms of ethical leadership, may fall short of being illegal,” Comey wrote in his 304-page book.
In response to the released excerpts, Trump took to Twitter Friday morning, calling Comey an “untruthful slime ball.”
“James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired. He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH. He is weak,” the president tweeted.
Trump added that his abrupt May 2017 firing of Comey was a “great honor.”
While still president-elect, Comey wrote that Trump asked him to investigate allegations from a dossier to “prove that it didn’t happen” — referring to a 35-page report compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele that includes salacious, and unproven, allegations against the president, including an alleged interaction with prostitutes in Moscow in 2013.
During a private dinner with the president on Jan. 27, 2017, Comey claims Trump asked the FBI director to prove the incident didn’t happen to ensure that first lady Melania Trump didn’t believe for even “1 percent” that the allegations were true.
“‘And I remember thinking, ‘How could your wife think there’s a 1 percent chance you were with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow?’ I’m a flawed human being, but there is literally zero chance that my wife would think that was true,” Comey said during an interview with ABC that will air Sunday.
“So, what kind of marriage to what kind of man does your wife think [that] there’s only a 99 percent chance you didn’t do that?”
Because of pre-ordering, Comey’s memoir is already a best-selling book in the United States.
