Comeypalooza: Trump Again Rips Former FBI Director Ahead of Book Tour
Looks like President Trump won’t be toting James Comey’s new book on his next trip to Mar-a-Lago.
Trump ripped the book and the former FBI director in a tweet-fest Sunday morning. And yes, he doubled down on calling Comey a “slimeball.”
The Tweets
Unbelievably, James Comey states that Polls, where Crooked Hillary was leading, were a factor in the handling (stupidly) of the Clinton Email probe. In other words, he was making decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win, and he wanted a job. Slimeball!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
The big questions in Comeyβs badly reviewed book arenβt answered like, how come he gave up Classified Information (jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail), why did the DNC refuse to give Server to the FBI (why didnβt they TAKE it), why the phony memos, McCabeβs $700,000 & more?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
Comey throws AG Lynch βunder the bus!β Why canβt we all find out what happened on the tarmac in the back of the plane with Wild Bill and Lynch? Was she promised a Supreme Court seat, or AG, in order to lay off Hillary. No golf and grandkids talk (give us all a break)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty. I hardly even knew this guy. Just another of his many lies. His βmemosβ are self serving and FAKE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
Slippery James Comey, a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
If only we knew how Trump really feels.
But what’s most amusing? The Associated Press, supposedly the very definition of unbiased, objective reporting, has this headline response to the tweets: “Trump unleashes a torrent of rage against Comey.” That’s a “torrent of rage”? For a New Yorker this doesn’t event count as a trickle of rage.
Comey Book Tour Begins … Immediately Raises Questions
Comey’s media blizz is underway for A Higher Loyalty: How I Parlayed Politicizing the FBI Into a Multi-Million Book Deal. His first sit down interview was with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. It aired in full last night. George asked Comey whether he told President-elect Trump that the salacious Steele dossier had been paid for by the Clinton campaign. Comey said he never mentioned the Steele dossier by name, and didn’t tell Trump the source of the “information.” Even George was incredulous. “Didn’t he have a right to know that?”
Says Comey, “Uh, I don’t know the answer to that. That wasn’t necessary for my goal, which was to alert him that we had this information.” Without telling it’s source? So what was his true goal? Hold that question a second.
In his book, Comey fawns over President Obama. He praises him in glowing terms usually reserved for paid PR flacks or MSNBC hosts. A compliment from Obama nearly makes him as weepy as a schoolgirl getting a retweet from Taylor Swift. On the one hand, that’s fine. If a President of the United States gives you an “attaboy,” it would be easy to get emotional. However, in this case we have a problem.
Just one day before Comey briefed Trump, he was in the Oval Office meeting with Obama about the Trump-Russia investigation. According to Susan Rice, a main topic was debating whether to limit the info to be given Trump and his people about the investigation. Although she denies the Steele dossier was discussed, that’s semantics. Like Comey told Stephanopoulos, he didn’t mention it by name.
So the question is obvious: Did the beloved Obama instruct Comey not to tell Trump the source of the information being used to justify surveillance of him?
Let’s go one step further. Comey decided to brief Trump on the Steele dossier in all its lurid detail despite none of it being verified. It’d be like Secretary of Defense James Mattis briefing Trump on a possible alien invasion based on a copy of Weekly World News. Likely Comey, but certainly Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, immediately leaked news of the briefing to CNN. This gave the media the excuse to run with the dossier allegations. And they ran with it like Usain Bolt being chased by swarm of hornets.
Now imagine if Comey had done his duty and told Trump the source of the dossier. The media’s Trump Russia Collusion narrative would have blown up on the launch pad.
This was a set up. Will anyone in the media dare to ask Comey if this sabotage of the President-elect was also arranged during that White House meeting?
Think of it. That’s two huge questions based on one response by Comey in his very first interview. Imagine the other hornet nests awaiting to be unleashed.
On the Plus Side
Reviewers on both sides of the aisle are calling the book petty and snippy and self-serving. But to Comey’s credit no one seems to be calling it dull. For a Washington memoir that’s almost unheard of.
On the Down Side
Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. Perhaps if Comey had spent more time on Islamic terrorists and less time on Trump’s hand size and kissing Obama’s backside, that race would have ended differently.