Trump Contends FBI Chief He
Fired Should Be Jailed
April 16, 2018
U.S. President Donald Trump contended Sunday that James Comey,
the FBI director he fired who has written a scathing new book on
the Trump presidency, should be imprisoned, claiming that he
revealed classified information and lied to Congress.
Trump unleashed a new broadside on Comey hours ahead of a widely
publicized television interview with the former chief of the
country's top law enforcement agency. Comey's book, "A Higher
Loyalty," is set for publication Tuesday and has already soared
to near the top of best-seller lists because of pre-sales.
In the book, Comey likens Trump to a “mafia boss” and referred
to his presidency as a “forest fire."
"The big questions in Comey’s badly reviewed book aren’t
answered like, how come he gave up Classified Information
(jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail)," Trump said on
Twitter, apparently claiming wrongly that the notes Comey wrote
about private meetings with Trump and talked about publicly were
classified. It was not immediately clear what Trump was
referencing in his contention that Comey lied in testimony
before congressional committees. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/985487209510948864
Comey wrote in the book, "This president is unethical, and
untethered to truth and institutional values. His leadership is
transactional, ego driven and about personal loyalty." Comey
claimed Trump was particularly concerned about unproven
allegations that in 2013 he had watched as prostitutes urinated
on a bed in a Moscow hotel, asking Comey to investigate to
disprove it.
Comey is kicking off his national publicity tour promoting sales
of the book with a Sunday night interview on ABC News.
Trump assailed Comey for acknowledging that shortly before
Trump's November 2016 election victory, he considered the fact
that Trump's opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, was leading in
national polls over Trump as the FBI chief reopened an
investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server to
handle classified information when she was secretary of state
several years before.
"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!," Trump said.
The U.S. leader also revisited a June 2016 incident, when
Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, met privately
with then-attorney general Loretta Lynch on an airport tarmac at
a time when Lynch was overseeing the FBI's email investigation
involving Hillary Clinton in which Hillary Clinton was weeks
later cleared of criminal wrongdoing.
"Comey throws AG Lynch 'under the bus!'" Trump claimed. "Why
can’t 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 (to stay on as attorney general in a would-be
Clinton presidency), in order to lay off Hillary. No golf and
grandkids talk (give us all a break)!"
Trump
also railed again about last week's FBI raid on the New York
office and home of his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in
search of documents related to hefty hush money payoffs shortly
before the election to two women who claim to have had affairs
with Trump a decade before he ran for the presidency. Trump has
denied both purported liaisons.
U.S. legal principles shield from disclosure conversations
lawyers hold with their clients — attorney-client privilege —
unless they are plotting criminal activity.
"Attorney Client privilege is now a thing of the past," Trump
tweeted. "I have many (too many!) lawyers and they are probably
wondering when their offices, and even homes, are going to be
raided with everything, including their phones and computers,
taken. All lawyers are deflated and concerned!"