DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus James Comey book denounces Trump as 'unethical and untethered to truth'

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018...-higher-loyalty

Former FBI director James Comey denounces Donald Trump as “untethered to truth” and likens the president to a mafia boss, in an explosive new book set to bring fresh turmoil to the White House.


James Comey treads fine line as book set to turn up heat on Trump
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Comey’s book, A Higher Loyalty, out next Tuesday, is published 11 months after he was fired by Trump, who allegedly tried to lean on him to shut down an investigation into his former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Comey’s sacking triggered a chain of events which led to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to oversee the investigation into Russian election meddling and alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump presidential campaign. Trump has denied collusion and frequently called the investigation a “witch-hunt”.

In Comey’s book, obtained by the Guardian ahead of publication from a bookseller in New York, the former FBI chief casts Trump as both “unethical’ and “untethered to truth”.

Describing his first trip to Trump Tower in January 2017, to brief the president-elect about the Steele dossier of allegations about his links to Russia, Comey writes that Trump “appeared shorter than he seemed on a debate stage with Hillary Clinton”.

He adds: “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.”

Comey then describes discussions by Trump’s team of the political implications of the dossier and possible strategies when details from it made the news media, all while intelligence community leaders remained in the room.

“Holy crap,” Comey writes, “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.”

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Comey likens the Trump presidency to a “forest fire” and repeatedly in the 304-page book paints Trump as a mafia-style boss, claiming that Trump gave him flashbacks to his early career as a prosecutor against the Mob.

In a discussion of an uncomfortable White House meeting with Trump and the then chief of staff, Reince Priebus, in February 2017, for example, Comey says that “because he never stops talking”, Trump “pulls all those present into a silent circle of assent”.

“The encounter left me shaken,” he writes. “I had never seen anything like it in the Oval Office. 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.”


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Comey also considers his experiences as acting attorney general under the Bush administration and his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state.

He also writes that he told the president during that first meeting at Trump Tower that he was not under investigation personally, an assurance Trump has harkened to since but which Comey writes the FBI general counsel, Jim Baker, had “argued powerfully” could be “misleadingly narrow”, given the scope of the investigation into whether the Trump campaign had coordinated with Russia.

Comey also writes that Trump fixated upon an allegation detailed to him at that meeting, that he invited prostitutes to his hotel room in Moscow during the Miss Universe event in 2013. In a later telephone call, Comey writes, Trump denied the most lurid allegation, insisting: “I’m a germaphobe. There’s no way I would let people pee on each other around me.”

“I actually let out an audible laugh,” Comey writes, adding: “I imagined the presidential suite of the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow was large enough for a germaphobe to be at a safe distance from the activity.”

Comey writes that he did not communicate this thought to Trump.

Of his firing, in May 2017, Comey writes that his interactions with Trump “finally ended in a blizzard of bad behavior”.

He says he first thought news of his firing during a speech to a recruiting event in Los Angeles – which he like everyone else in the room saw first on a TV screen behind him – was a practical joke.

“I now saw the same words,” he writes. “COMEY FIRED. I wasn’t laughing any longer.”

No one from the Trump administration called him immediately, he writes, leaving him to learn all he could from the media. Eventually, he writes, John Kelly, then secretary of homeland security, called to say “he was sick about my firing and that he intended to quit in protest.

“He said he didn’t want to work for dishonorable people who would treat someone like me in such a manner. I urged Kelly not to do that, arguing that the country needed principled people around this president. Especially this president.”

Kelly is now White House chief of staff, the subject of reports that he has fallen out of favor with Trump.

In an epilogue, Comey passes judgment on Trump’s character. Writing that “our country is paying a high price” for the 2016 election, he says: “This president is unethical, and untethered to the truth and institutional values. His leadership is transactional, ego driven, and about personal loyalty.”

The book, an instant bestseller online in the weeks before its release, will be supported by a Comey media blitz to begin Sunday night with an hour-long broadcast on ABC News.

In response, the Republican national party has organized a Trumpian scheme to brand the former director “Lyin’ Comey” – and has set up a rebuttal website.

Comey did both good and bad things, so i can't wait til the book drops to see what exactly he says.

It will be interesting to see what he says... the argument about it will be much less interesting:

Disgruntled former employee.. just trying to sell books..

or epitome of honor who should be taken at his word...

The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

But in the end, I think Comey will be proven honorable and Trump not so much. That's a no brainer.

It's not hard to determine the more honest of the 2..

Trump raised 'golden showers thing' with Comey

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/12/politics/comey-book-golden-showers/index.html

Former FBI Director James Comey wrote in his book that President Donald Trump discussed looking into one of the most infamous allegations in a dossier of claims about Trump and Russia.

In the book, which CNN obtained Thursday, Comey wrote that Trump wanted him to prove the allegation was false in part to prove its falsehood to his wife, first lady Melania Trump.
"He brought up what he called the 'golden showers thing,'" Comey wrote.
The dossier was commissioned as opposition research by political opponents of then-candidate Trump and compiled by a former British intelligence agent. Portions of the dossier remain unconfirmed.
Comey wrote in the book, "It bothered him if there was 'even a one percent chance' his wife, Melania, thought it was true. ... He just rolled on, unprompted, explaining why it couldn't possibly be true, ending by saying he was thinking of asking me to investigate the allegation to prove it was a lie. I said it was up to him."
Comey recalled the interaction occurred at the same dinner where he said Trump asked for his "loyalty," which Trump has denied.
CNN reported shortly before Trump took office that top intelligence officials, including Comey, presented Trump with claims of Russian efforts to compromise him. BuzzFeed News published the full, unverified dossier that included the infamous claim that Russian authorities had evidence of Trump watching prostitutes urinate in a hotel suite.
There is no indication that such a tape exists and Trump has vehemently denied it.
Trump lashed out at the report and the publication of the dossier of allegations in a news conference in January 2017, saying, "It's all fake news. It's phony stuff. It didn't happen."
To bolster his dismissal of the allegations, Trump said, "I'm also very much of a germaphobe. Believe me."
Comey wrote at length on conversations with Trump about the salacious topic. He wrote that Trump raised the prostitution claim at least four times with him and explained away the allegation in a call with Comey on January 11, 2017.
"'I'm a germaphobe,'" Comey quoted Trump saying. "'There's no way I would let people pee on each other around me. No way.'"
This story has been updated with additional reports.

no it's not.

but his decision making during the election season didn't go very well.

and like everything, it'll be much more in the middle than either side is willing to admit.

j\c
Till that leaking lying liberal operative is put under oath by the govt. like he and his cronies have done to the Repubs. while protecting criminals like Hillary its fake news .

Comey Doesn't have a completely clean slate over the Clinton stuff. But if you want to talk about credibility, Comey blows Trump out of the water..

lol, Trump is on fire today

Trump responds to Comey's book by calling him an 'untruthful slime ball'

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-responds-comeys-book-calling-untruthful-slime-ball-125324864.html

President Trump tore into James Comey on Friday in a pair of tweets aimed at discrediting Comey’s new book, which details the former FBI director’s interactions with the president before his firing last year.

“James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “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,” the president continued. “He lied to Congress under OATH. He is a weak and untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI. His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst ‘botch jobs’ of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey!”

Trump’s comments came a day after numerous excerpts from Comey’s upcoming memoir, “A Higher Loyalty,” were published online. In them, Comey describes Trump as “untethered to the truth,” likens him to a mob boss, and recounts a meeting with the president in which the former FBI director says Trump asked him to investigate salacious allegations from the so-called dossier to disprove the claims to first lady Melania Trump.

Related: What’s in James Comey’s book?

“He brought up what he called the ‘golden showers thing’ … adding that it bothered him if there was ‘even a 1 percent chance’ his wife, Melania, thought it was true,” Comey writes, according to an excerpt published by the New York Post. “He just rolled on, unprompted, explaining why it couldn’t possibly be true, ending by saying he was thinking of asking me to investigate the allegation to prove it was a lie. I said it was up to him.”

“He said, you know, ‘If there’s even a 1 percent chance my wife thinks that’s true, that’s terrible,’” Comey told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in a separate interview, parts of which aired Friday morning. “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. So, what kind of marriage to what kind of man does your wife think there’s only a 99 percent chance you didn’t do that?”

Stephanopoulos asked Comey whether believed Trump’s denial.

“Honestly, I never thoughts 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.,” Comey said. “It’s possible, but I don’t know.”

Comey said he first informed Trump about the dossier in a private meeting that followed one where U.S. intelligence officials briefed Trump on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

According to Comey, Trump appeared less concerned by Russia’s attack on the election than how it could undermine his victory.

“President-elect Trump’s first question was to confirm that it had no impact on the election,” Comey said. “And then the conversation, to my surprise, moved into a PR conversation about how the Trump team would position this, and what they could say about this, with us still sitting there.”

Comey added: “That’s just not done. That the intelligence community does intelligence; the White House does PR and spin.”

You mean lying to congress is credibility......that's what your using to judge someone?

Comey hints at damaging material involving ex-AG Lynch 'still unknown to the American public'

James Comey's cryptic reference in his new book to "a development still unknown to the American public" involving then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the Hillary Clinton email probe is sparking furious speculation inside and outside the Beltway.

According to ABC News, Comey writes in "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership," that he became the public face of the investigation partly because of the mysterious development which he felt could cast “serious doubt” on Lynch's independence.

“Had it become public, the unverified material would undoubtedly have been used by political opponents to cast serious doubt on the attorney general’s independence in connection with the Clinton investigation,” Comey writes, according to ABC. He calls the material a “development still unknown to the American public to this day.”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/04/...can-public.html

Has Comey been indicted or investigated openly yet? nope.

Trump is being investigated every single day.

Like for instance Trump cheating on his wife with a porn star and a playboy playmate.

Or how about lying about a myriad of things before, during and after the election.

So don't take that holyer than thou attitude with me. Trump is the biggest liar to ever sit in the oval office since Nixon. He proves it everyday. He lies to his base and they suck it up and believe it.

Coney provided cover to the worst candidate in modern times.....his refusal to recommend chargers against HRC immediately after he said she was guilty of committing the acts he was investigating says all you need to know about this partisan agent. Spineless turd.

Breaking news! We have no idea if it's really true because we can't actually verify that it is, but that's never stopped us before!

Your peeps have been dropping like flies as each truth comes out. This will be no different. Biased political hacks posing as law enforcement and justice will not stand.

You must be talking about the search warrants, indictments and convictions by the people surrounding Trump.

Don't forget Collusion and Obstruction you have been warning us about!

I haven't been warning you about anything. You must have me confused with someone else.

But would you like a list of all of the Republicans that started, approved of and are in charge of the investigation?

The fact that you can't see that there's a ton of crooks on both sides of this is what's so funny. Both Dems and the GOP are full of crooks. However, at this point in time your side is just the ones being convicted.

The part that's so funny is that the GOP is in charge of the Congress, senate, the White House and the DOJ, yet there's no special prosecutor going after Hillary. Why is that? The deep state? lmao

She's the slipperiest criminal mastermind in the history of American politics.

That, and her pants suits are teflon-lined polyester.


Lock her up- she'll just slip right through the bars.

She's part of the Deep State, above the law and knows it.

And we know it too.
All of us.

Cankles has been 'connected' since her radical college days.

My guess: Illuminati.

Yes we all know it, and it is the reason she is not the POTUS. Not referring to you, but what the hell does that have to do with the guy who is POTUS? Maybe Hilary should be in a prison cell, but that doesnt change the fact that Donald should be in the cell next door.

Love how only 1 member of the crew has responded.....it seems as if they feel if the do t acknowledge this tid bit from the book then it never happened.

It does not fit within their bubble of hate.
Hear no, See no, Speak no.

Well since it plainly states that the information is "unverified" there's really nothing to respond to is there? lol

Then why in the hell did your boy Comey bring it up??? At this point the Comey accusations on trump are essentially unverified....it is Trump’s word vs Comey’s.....in other words prove what Comey said is true.

I've never said any of it's true.

I do however consider the fact that Trump pretty much lies on the regular so his word is very hard to trust.

And it's funny how Comey was your boy when he re-opened the investigation into Hillary before the election and now he's my boy.

Some of you change your mind a lot. lol

I think we have enough proof to say Comey is his own boy.

I like the way you phrased that. That's what people in law enforcement are supposed to be. Not beholden to a political party or politician. They are supposed to be independent of that. I believe you are correct.

Well if that is true - then the whole world will believe whatever Comey says .... all but the most die hard Trump stooges who regurgitate everything he says as gospel and act as enablers for his many failings and failures.

Has Comey taken this to a personal level and shown signs of some pettiness? Sure ... was he the first to do that? No, that would be Trump. And if Trump doesn't wish to act presidential then personally I don't see the need to treat him president-ially. Respect for the office is one thing, but when the office is the one routinely flinging mud, chit and lies around on social media, karma says he's going to get it back in spades.

I've seen many comments from Trump supporters that say they love that Trump is unconventional and a bully and attacks anyone who is in the way - that he carries the Hamma - that he'll play dirty and "win" by whatever means possible.

They should equally appreciate and love people like Comey who then retaliate in the same way. What's good for the goose is good for gander.

Immediately after Comey announced that the FBI had reopened the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails in late October 2016, virtually every leading Democrat called him a disgrace and said that he should be fired or resign.

Democrats attacking Comey included House Minority Nancy Pelosi of California, current Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, and former Senate Minority leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who lost the Democratic presidential nomination to Clinton, joined in the anti-Comey chorus.

Then, miraculously – after President Trump fired him and Comey began to attack his former boss – Democrats suddenly considered Comey a saintly, loyal public servant.

-Newt

No one is fooled but you koolaid sippers.

You guys want us to believe and look into this bit, but he's lying about everything else...

I don't think Comey is anywhere near perfect - and I think he has an ego to match Trump's .... but while Trump won't ever admit to ever being wrong, I think Comey is at least willing to be accountable for his errors and actions. I think he screwed every which way on the Hilary email situation. I think he knows it. But that doesn't mean that when he makes notes about specific quotes from Trump that he's lying - and based on every thing I see, hear and know about Trump, his recollections seem to be in tune with what I would expect.

Too bad Hilary wasn't held accountable for what she did. But that doesn't change what my expectations of Trump are (or any POTUS). . . . That's what is so pathetic, any ethic challenge to a Trump supporter ends up deflected to a comment about Hilary.

Anyone see this? Interview where Jim Jordan is asked to respond to questions without mentioning Hilary ... and can't do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EMlgXaULqQ

Look we get Hilary was a despicable candidate. That's why Trump won in the first place .... it shouldn't become an excuse or deflection for every immoral and mononic thing Trump does or says.

That was a strange interview last night. I'm not entirely sure Comey is without some fault. But generally speaking, I'd take his word over anyone that works for trump or Trump himself.

U believe Hillary .... nuff said ... ...

The fact that anyone believes either of them is what floors me. They both suck.