In his first TV interview since being fired by President Trump, former FBI Director James Comey came out swinging, describing Trump as “morally unfit to be president,” and an ego-driven serial liar who treats women like “meat.”
In a wide-ranging interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, part of which aired Sunday night, Comey weighed in on Trump, the salacious – and unverified – Russian dossier, and his reason for going public about the probe into Hillary Clinton’s private email server in the final days of the 2016 election.
Clinton – as well as a large number of Democrats – blamed her November defeat on Comey.
“I hope not – but the honest answer is, it wouldn’t have changed the way I think about it,” Comey said. He added he hoped people would read his book, “A Higher Loyalty,” and put themselves in his shoes.
Comey claimed he wasn’t trying to favor one candidate over the other but instead tried to do “the right thing,” though he admitted his decision was influenced by the assumption Clinton would beat Trump in the election.
“I don’t remember spelling it out, but it had to have been, that she’s going to be elected president and if I hide this from the American people, she’ll be illegitimate the moment she’s elected, the moment this comes out,” he told Stephanopoulos.
Comey also recounted his initial interactions with Trump over the unverified 35-page Russian dossier that was compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and funded in part by the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s campaign. The dossier detailed a graphic account of Trump with Russian prostitutes during a 2013 trip to Moscow. Trump has denied the claims.
But in the ABC interview, Comey said that during a private dinner meeting on Jan. 27, 2017, Trump asked him to disprove the allegations.
“He said, you know, ‘If there’s even a 1 percent chance my wife thinks that’s true, that’s terrible.’”
Comey added, “‘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…
