Former FBI Director James Comey has been the subject of significant attention as he prepares for the April 17 release of his new book. To promote the book — A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership — Comey is embarking a promotional media blitz that has already caused quite a stir as several passages from the book have surfaced. Comey's book contains numerous revelations about Donald Trump's administration, his investigation into Hillary Clinton, and the Trump campaign's potential collusion with Russia, according to Fortune.
ABC News reported that Comey's book release was actually moved up to its current publication date so that Comey could weigh in on the "intense scrutiny" that the FBI is currently facing. Trump fired Comey from the FBI director role last May, but the book talks about much more than Comey's nearly four-year tenure at the agency. According to Business Insider, Comey's book offers detailed commentary about the 2016 election, the Clinton emails scandal, and the current political climate under Trump.
The revelations about Trump, however, have garnered perhaps the most attention ahead of the book's release. Let's take a look at eight of the most startling quotes in Comey's book about Trump and the current administration.
1. Comey Compares Trump To A Mob Boss
As I found myself thrust into the Trump orbit, I once again was having flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the mob. The silent circle of assent. 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 the truth.
2. Comey Mocks Trump's Appearance
His face appeared slightly orange, with bright white half-moons under his eyes where I assume he placed small tanning goggles, and impressively coiffed, bright blond hair, which on close inspection looked to be all his. I remember wondering how long it must take him in the morning to get that done.
Trump also “appeared shorter than he seemed on a debate stage with Hillary Clinton," Comey wrote.
3. Comey Expresses Alarm Over Trump's Calls For Loyalty
Holy crap, they are trying to make each of us an "amica nostra" — a friend of ours. To draw us in. As crazy as it sounds, I suddenly had the feeling that, in the blink of an eye, the president-elect was trying to make us all part of the same family.
4. Comey Suggests Trump Doesn't Have A Grasp On Reality
This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values. His leadership is transactional, ego driven, and about personal loyalty.
5. Comey Likens Trump's Presidency To A "Forest Fire"
"Donald Trump’s presidency threatens much of what is good in this nation," Comey asserts in his book. Comey also suggested that the Trump administration is like a "forest fire" that can't be contained by any ethical leaders.
6. Comey Alleges That Trump Talked About The "Pee Tape" A Lot
According to NBC, Comey mentions several different occasions on which Trump brought up allegations from the Steele dossier — namely, the unverified claim that Trump paid sex workers to pee on a Moscow hotel bed on which Barack and Michelle Obama supposedly once slept. Comey writes in his book that Trump brought up these particular allegations on numerous occasions, even though he denied them.
In January 2017, for example, Comey said that Trump asked him "rhetorically, I assumed — whether he seemed like a guy who needed the service of prostitutes. He then began discussing cases where women had accused him of sexual assault, a subject I had not raised. He mentioned a number of women, and seemed to have memorized their allegations."
Comey added that there was a follow-up call, also in January 2017. "I'm a germaphobe," Comey cites Trump as saying. "There's no way I would let people pee on each other around me. No way."
And finally, in March 2017, Comey alleges that Trump "argued that the golden showers thing wasn't true" for the fourth time, "asking yet again, 'Can you imagine me, hookers?'"
7. Comey Expresses Concern Over The Current Political Climate
We are experiencing a dangerous time in our country, with a political environment where basic facts are disputed, fundamental truth is questioned, lying is normalized and unethical behavior is ignored, excused or rewarded. What is happening now is not normal. … It is not fake news. It is not okay.
8. Comey Reveals That He Confided In Obama About Trump's Win
In his book, Comey writes that he had a meeting with Obama in the Oval Office in late November 2016, after Trump had won the election. At the time, Comey was under fire from Democrats for having reopened the investigation into Clinton's emails so soon before the election, and Comey writes that Obama moved him to tears with his reassurance.
"I picked you to be FBI director because of your integrity and your ability," Comey cites Obama as saying. "I want you to know that nothing has happened in the last year to change my view."
Comey responded by telling Obama, "I dread the next four years."
