House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he wasn’t going to speak about former FBI director James Comey’s integrity because he didn’t want to participate in a campaign to sell his upcoming book.
In an interview released Sunday, Ryan refused to directly answer whether he trusted Comey’s judgment, claiming he only knew him from two or three briefings.
“Look, I’m not going to try and sell him some books,” Ryan told Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I understand that, but there’s going to be questioning of his integrity and stuff. Is he somebody that you think is a slimeball?” Todd asked.
“I don’t use words like that, and I don’t speak like that. But I wouldn’t do that because you’re just going to help him sell books,” Ryan said. “I’ve met him two or three times in two or three briefings, I don’t know the guy. I’m not trying to be evasive, but what I don’t want to do is join some food fight, some book-selling food fight. I don’t see value in that.”
Comey’s book, A Higher Loyalty, is set to be released Tuesday, and has been highly discussed on cable television for the weeks leading up to its release.
