Trump, called an unethical liar in book, blasts ex-FBI chief as 'slime ball'

By Doina Chiacu and Angela Moore

 

A combination of file photos show U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House in Washington, DC, U.S. April 9, 2018 and former FBI Director James Comey on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 8, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria, Jonathan Ernst/File Photos

 

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Donald Trump attacked James Comey as a "weak and untruthful slime ball" on Friday after the fired former FBI director castigated him as an unethical liar and likened him to a mob moss in a searing new memoir.

 

The president fired Comey last May while his agency was investigating potential collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia in the 2016 U.S. election in a move that led the Justice Department to appoint Special Counsel Robert Mueller to take over a probe that has hung over his presidency.

 

"This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values," Comey said in the book due out Tuesday, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

 

Trump has often publicly criticized Comey since firing him, but escalated his attacks in response to the book.

 

"It was my great honour to fire James Comey!" Trump said in one of a series of scorching Twitter messages, adding that Comey - now one of the Republican president's fiercest critics - had been a terrible FBI director.

 

The tirade followed news accounts of Comey's book, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership," which paints a deeply unflattering picture of Trump, comparing him to a mob boss who stresses personal loyalty over the law and has little regard for morality or truth.

 

Mueller is looking into whether Trump has sought to obstruct the Russia probe, and Comey could be a key witness on that front.

Comey last year accused Trump of pressuring him to pledge loyalty and end a probe involving former national security adviser Michael Flynn's contacts with Moscow.

 

"James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR," Trump wrote.

 

Trump accused Comey of lying to Congress, but did not specify was he was referring to, and said the former FBI chief should be prosecuted for leaking classified information.

 

Trump has denied any collusion and has called Mueller's investigation a witch hunt.

 

Comey is conducting a series of media interviews before the book's official release. Copies of the book were obtained by news outlets on Thursday.

 

The interviews are Comey's first public comments since he testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee last June, when he accused Trump of firing him to undermine the FBI's Russia investigation. Just days after Trump fired Comey, the president said he did it because of "this Russia thing."

 

Trump has launched a series of attacks since last year against U.S. law enforcement leaders and institutions as the Russia probe pressed forward, in addition to Comey and Mueller.

 

"People will rot in hell for besmirching the reputation the integrity and the professional history of these two men," Democratic U.S. Representative Jim Himes said on CNN, referring to Comey and Mueller, himself a former FBI director.

 

In an offshoot of the Mueller probe, Trump's longtime personal lawyer's office and home were raided by the Federal Bureau on Investigation on Monday.

 

'REALLY WEIRD'

 

In an interview broadcast on Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America," Comey discussed his initial encounters last year with Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, 2017.

 

He described Trump as volatile, defensive and concerned more about his own image than about whether Russia meddled in the presidential election.

 

American intelligence agencies last year said Russia interfered in the election through a campaign of propaganda and hacking in a scheme to sow discord in the United States and help get Trump elected. Moscow has denied meddling.

 

Comey said he cautioned Trump against ordering an investigation into a salacious intelligence dossier alleging an 2013 encounter involving prostitutes in Moscow.

 

The dossier was compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele about Trump's ties to Russia and included an allegation that involved prostitutes urinating on one another in a hotel room while Trump watched.

 

Trump denied the allegations and said he might want the FBI to investigate allegations in the dossier to prove they were untrue, Comey told ABC.

 

"I said to him, 'Sir that's up to you but you want to be careful about that because it might create a narrative that we're investigating you personally and, second, it's very difficult to prove something didn't happen,'" Comey said.

 

Asked to describe that Jan. 6, 2017 meeting two weeks before Trump took office, Comey said: "Really weird. It was almost an out-of-body experience for me."

 

Comey was asked if he believed the dossier's allegations.

 

"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," Comey told ABC. "It's possible, but I don't know."

 

Comey said the dossier's allegations had not been verified by the time he left the FBI.

 

Before Trump and Comey met alone, U.S. intelligence chiefs briefed Trump and his advisers about the Russian election meddling.

What struck him most, Comey told ABC, was that the conversation moved straight into a public relations mode, what they could say and how they could position Trump.

 

"No one, to my recollection, asked, 'So what's coming next from the Russians, how might we stop it, what's the future look like?'" Comey said.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-14

11 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

"This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values,"

Difficult to argue with that statement.

 

12 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

I don't know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013,"

No, I don't know either, though it really would not surprise me.

And then though, Donald calls Comey a slime ball?

16 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

President Donald Trump attacked James Comey as a "weak and untruthful slime ball" on Friday after the fired former FBI director castigated him as an unethical liar and likened him to a mob moss in a searing new memoir.

Comparing credibility between Trump and Comey is ludicrous.

 

Trump is a proven liar who lies over and over and over and over and over again. 

 

Comey is far from a perfect person, but relative to Trump?

 

No contest.

Bill Clinton bombed Sudan and Afganistan to deflect similar attention in the 90s...

Edited April 14, 20188 yr by evadgib

Comey is clearly a very insightful person.

Plus he has integrity and an almost photographic memory supplemented by legendary notetaking skills.

Trump however retorts with his usual classy comments

' slimeball' ??? Ye gods.

Rednecks and trailer park trash rejoice.  Somwone who speaks their revolting language. 

2 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

Comparing credibility between Trump and Comey is ludicrous.

 

Trump is a proven liar who lies over and over and over and over and over again. 

 

Comey is far from a perfect person, but relative to Trump?

 

No contest.

 

To the Deplorons, it doesn't matter how many lies the reality TV president and his ilk tell. They chalk it up to either joking around or "telling it like it is" regardless of the actual facts. A whole world of "alternate" facts exist in that reality.

 

But the instant someone goes against the Deplorons beloved, untouchable kakistocrat, well obviously those poeple (like Comey) are telling massive lies and have nefarious plans. The Deep State is under ever rock and around every corner!

 

Edited April 14, 20188 yr by Silurian

Comey has more credibility than Tiny Don could ever hope for. Who do the American people believe? Not Don. There is alot of truth in what Comey is saying about the conman, and that kind of truth hurts. Trump is going down in flames. He is hanging on by a thread. 

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-donald-trump-michael-cohen-trouble-20180410-story.html

 

First, if the Cohen raid took special counsel Robert Mueller into a new area of investigation, he would have had to get the permission of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the probe. Then to get this kind of warrant, according to Justice Department rules, Mueller needed to get the permission of the U.S. Attorney — in this case, Geoffrey Berman of the Southern District of New York, who was appointed by Trump — and had to consult with the Criminal Division of DOJ, giving them detailed information on exactly what he was seeking and why. Then a judge would have to be persuaded to issue the warrant. (ABC reported this morning that Berman has recused himself from the investigation, which means that others in his office are handling it.)

4 hours ago, evadgib said:

Bill Clinton bombed Sudan and Afganistan to deflect similar attention in the 90s...

 

Clinton's bombings were in direct response to the destruction of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam two weeks earlier, which was an act of war. Although Clinton was likely not unhappy about the timing of it all. Likewise, tempting as it is to write off the current airstrikes in Syria as purely deflective in purpose, Assad's use of gas against his own population also begs a military response.

Do some reading about past Presidents, Prime Ministers, Premiers, Kings, Princes, Dictators, Shahs, Emperors, Boobaahs and Potentates. Compared to say...Maria Schicklgruber's kid, the current players are amateurs in the mayhem department.

 

Yeah, I know. None had the ability to end civilization, but several sure tried. (Liberals most likely will opt not to research as bashing is much quicker).

At first Trump was generally an innocuous joke, a cocktail party topic of humor. Since his election, he has become a dangerously unstable idiot with the nuclear codes, a stupid bully openly daring Russia/China into WW III. At this point, if you STILL defend this base man-child then you are either in utter denial or certifiably insane.

4 minutes ago, quandow said:

At first Trump was generally an innocuous joke, a cocktail party topic of humor. Since his election, he has become a dangerously unstable idiot with the nuclear codes, a stupid bully openly daring Russia/China into WW III. At this point, if you STILL defend this base man-child then you are either in utter denial or certifiably insane.

I agree there is no excuse to support "trump" but stubborn people don't want to ever admit they've backed a dangerous authoritarian white nationalist con man demagogue. They're too heavily invested even when it hurts them personally, which it very often does. 

Edited April 14, 20188 yr by Jingthing

7 hours ago, evadgib said:

Bill Clinton bombed Sudan and Afganistan to deflect similar attention in the 90s...

It's not similar.  Bill Clinton was involved in a romantic imbroglio.  Trump is a lying cheating traitorous thief in the employ of a foreign power intent on destroying democracy in the USA.

9 hours ago, Benmart said:

Do some reading about past Presidents, Prime Ministers, Premiers, Kings, Princes, Dictators, Shahs, Emperors, Boobaahs and Potentates. Compared to say...Maria Schicklgruber's kid, the current players are amateurs in the mayhem department.

 

Yeah, I know. None had the ability to end civilization, but several sure tried. (Liberals most likely will opt not to research as bashing is much quicker).

But apparently bashing 'Liberals ' is ok , you are a prize hypocrite !

Can see DT facing an awful lot of defamation law suits in the near future particularly when his versions of events are disproved. 

 

Could end up being a nice big cash cow to many people.

Edited April 14, 20188 yr by Basil B

Comey helped Trump to get more votes in last monents by bringing up about Hilary emails (old story). Email investigation stoped with no result. 

Comey rewarded by trump after election. Despite what Comey expected, he was was fired. Then Comey tried to revenge. 

A lier vs another. 

Dirty politics. Anyone sell anyone at some point. 

Edited April 14, 20188 yr by The Theory

19 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Trump accused Comey of lying to Congress, but did not specify was he was referring to, and said the former FBI chief should be prosecuted for leaking classified information.

 

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/law-prof-mccabe-firing-suggests-comey-lied-to-congress-while-under-oath/

11 hours ago, StreetCowboy said:

It's not similar.  Bill Clinton was involved in a romantic imbroglio.  Trump is a lying cheating traitorous thief in the employ of a foreign power intent on destroying democracy in the USA.

 

You're such a card, Hoss .

19 hours ago, darksidedog said:

19 hours ago, rooster59 said:

"This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values,"

Difficult to argue with that statement.

 

19 hours ago, rooster59 said:

I don't know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013,"

No, I don't know either, though it really would not surprise me.

And then though, Donald calls Comey a slime ball?

 

Judging people on their alleged consenting adult sexual predilections is one great big slippery slope.

I am so glad to see Trump's point by point rebuttal of Comey's assertions.

Nah

Just call him a slimeball and go play some golf

Is it logical or philosophically possible for there to be an ethical liar?

Besides the adage of ethical could never apply to someone of trumps disposition or past.

Doing the right thing is anathema to him.

Be like expecting a kkk leader to have martin luther king as his child's godfather

3 hours ago, Khun Han said:

 

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/law-prof-mccabe-firing-suggests-comey-lied-to-congress-while-under-oath/

Then there's the likelihood that Comeu released classified documents to his buddy at some university. Cookery now claims his pal he leaked to is his legal counsel.

 

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/341225-comeys-private-memos-on-trump-conversations-contained-classified

 

Either way, I hope the justice system runs a proper course on anyone breaking the law.

12 minutes ago, Expatthailover said:

Is it logical or philosophically possible for there to be an ethical liar?

 

 

I think so and I think Kant got this wrong. If I was harboring someone that the Nazis were rounding up for extermination I don't think I would be truthful about it should they ask.