As former FBI Director James Comey continues his dishonest publicity tour to smear the Trump administration, Americans must remember his past misconduct and lies.
Comey’s new book, A Higher Loyalty, is nothing more than a politicized story of a disgruntled and discredited former official. What’s more, the book and its media publicity ignore a key fact: he has a long history of misstatements and a “higher loyalty” to none other than himself.
In May 2017, Comey testified that he had never leaked information as an anonymous source about the Trump or Clinton investigations. One month later, he admitted he had used a close friend to leak his memos to the press in order to prompt a special counsel investigation.
In June 2017, Comey testified that the president “direct[ed]” him to stop investigating former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. However, one month earlier, he testified that the FBI had never been told to stop an investigation for political reasons.
Comey also broke longstanding FBI and Justice Department protocol several times by publicly acknowledging the existence of ongoing FBI investigations — including in October 2016, when he announced an investigation into new Clinton emails immediately before the presidential election, despite having these “new emails” for at least three weeks.
He flouted the authority of the Justice Department, used the federal law enforcement agency to make politicized decisions, and chose to act in the service of only himself. All this he readily admits, as he gladly sits for one televised interview after another.
Comey’s gross inaccuracies and contradictions damaged his reputation and that of the FBI, and Democrats have long agreed on his lack of credibility. Two years ago, during his mishandling of then-candidate Hillary Clinton’s email investigation, they even wanted him to resign.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said at the time that Comey was perhaps “not in the right job,” while Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Comey of breaking the law and said he “of course” should resign. He went further, even demanding the FBI director be investigated. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said “it would not be a bad thing for the American people” if Comey stepped down, and now-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he was “appalled by what Comey did” and that he did “not have confidence in him any longer.”
The media also sang a different tune about Comey way back in 2016. Mort Zuckerman began his editorial in U.S. News & World Report calling for the director’s resignation by saying, “The self-righteous James Comey has served his country badly.” Similar pieces ran in the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the New York Daily News. Even MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” got on the bandwagon.
Comey’s new book cannot rehabilitate his image, because Americans know the truth. Walter Mak, a friend of Comey’s and former federal prosecutor, recently said on CNN that the book and media tour could damage Comey’s reputation and credibility. As Comey takes the stage and floods the airwaves in the coming weeks, we will remember his history of lies and contradictions.
The bottom line is that Comey is a consummate Washington insider, and his misconduct is now in full view.
Joseph Borelli (@JoeBorelliNYC) is the minority whip of the New York City Council, a Republican commentator, a professor, and Lindsay Fellow at the City University of New York’s Institute for State and Local Governance.
