James Comey interview: 6 biggest shockers, from Russian prostitutes to possible obstruction of justice
Fired FBI Director James Comey dropped one bombshell after another in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that aired Sunday night.
The network has been teasing the exclusive with the famously polarizing bureaucrat for a week and when push finally came to shove, Comey did not disappoint.
Here’s a recap of the six biggest moments from the interview, timed to the release of his new tell-all memoir, “A Higher Loyalty.”
Also Read: Rachel Maddow Got a Copy of James Comey's Book -- Here Are 3 Takeaways
1. “It’s possible” Trump really “was with prostitutes peeing on each other”
“I honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don’t know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013. It’s possible, but I don’t know,” said Comey offering his assessment of the existence of the infamous Trump “pee tape” that remains unverified.
Comey was the first person to brief the incoming president on the existence of the former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele’s dossier, which first made the claim that Russian might have compromising material about Trump.
2. Donald Trump is “morally unfit to be president”
“I think he’s morally unfit to be president,” said Comey who also swatted back rumors that Trump was mentally incapacitated or not intelligent enough to rule. “I don’t buy this stuff about him being mentally incompetent or early stages of dementia. He strikes me as a person of above average intelligence who’s tracking conversations and knows what’s going on,” said Comey.
3. “Certainly some evidence of obstruction of justice”
The former FBI director also lent his voice to growing media speculation that there could be a growing case again Trump for obstruction of justice, particularly with the president’s earlier request to Comey that he “let go” of the investigation into former national security adviser Gen. Michael Flynn.
“It’s certainly some evidence of obstruction of justice,” he said. “It would depend and — and I’m just a witness in this case, not the investigator or prosecutor, it would depend upon other things that reflected on his intent.”
Also Read: Trump Blasts 'Untruthful Slime Ball' James Comey as Fired FBI Director Releases Tell-All Book
4. Trump reminds him of a “mob boss”
Comey recollected his first moments with Donald Trump, saying that his immediate impression was that the president reminded him of some of the mob bosses he put away early in his career as a prosecutor.
“How strange is it for you to sit here and compare the president to a mob boss,” asked Stephanopoulos in disbelief.
“Very strange,” Comey responded. “And I don’t do it lightly.”
5. “He will stain everyone around him”
Comey also offered his belief that the president would permanently “stain” all those who work under him.
“The challenge of this president is that he will stain everyone around him. And the question is, how much stain is too much stain and how much stain eventually makes you unable to accomplish your goal of protecting the country and serving the country?” said Comey. “I don’t know.”
6. Trump never asked about how to prevent future Russia meddling in U.S. elections
Comey told Stephanopoulos that in all the talk of the Steele dossier and what he said was Trump’s request for personal loyalty, the president never asked him a single follow-up question about the Russian cyber-attacks that led — in part — to his election. Instead, the former FBI chief said Trump was far more interested in how the attack might be spun in terms favorable to him.
“No one, to my recollection, asked, ‘So what — what’s coming next from the Russians?’ You’re about to lead a country that has an adversary attacking it and I don’t remember any questions about,” said Comey.
“So what are they going to do next. How might we stop it? What’s the future look like? Because we’ll be custodians of the security of this country.” There was none of that. It was all, “What can we say about what they did and how it affects the election that we just had.”
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