{"id":43286,"date":"2018-04-17T09:56:58","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T09:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=43286"},"modified":"2018-04-17T09:56:58","modified_gmt":"2018-04-17T09:56:58","slug":"trump-morally-unfit-to-be-president-comey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=43286","title":{"rendered":"Trump \u2018morally unfit to be president\u2019: Comey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018I honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don\u2019t know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow\u2019, the fired FBI chief says<\/strong><\/p>\n

Former FBI Director James Comey said in his first televised interview since being fired that he believed Donald Trump was \u201cmorally unfit to be president,\u201d and that it was \u201cpossible\u201d that the Russians had material that could be used to blackmail him.In a wide-ranging conversation with George Stephanopoulos broadcast on ABC late Sunday, Comey took aim at Trump in no uncertain terms, comparing his administration to a mafia family, likening his presidency to a forest fire and asserting there was evidence that he had committed a crime.<\/p>\n

He said, curiously, that he would not favour impeaching Trump to remove him from office, because that \u201cwould let the American people off the hook and have something happen indirectly that I believe they\u2019re duty-bound to do directly\u201d \u2013 meaning through elections.<\/p>\n

But he made clear his view of whether Trump was fit to hold the position.\u201cThis president does not reflect the values of this country,\u201d Comey said.<\/p>\n

The interview airs just days before Comey is set to release a new book and embark on a media tour to promote it. Much of what Comey said to Stephanopoulos mirrors what he wrote, although his televised, extemporaneous comments are sure to attract the attention of the president, who is an avid TV viewer.On Sunday morning, Trump tweeted criticism of Comey, denying some of Comey\u2019s allegations and alleging that Comey revealed classified information and lied to Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cSlippery 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!\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post was allowed to review a complete transcript of the Comey interview, which lasted nearly five hours.<\/p>\n

As he did in his book, Comey detailed in the interview Trump\u2019s fixation on unproven allegations that he watched prostitutes urinate on one another in a Moscow hotel in 2013, asserting that Trump at one point said he was contemplating ordering Comey to investigate and disprove the incident because he did not want \u201ceven a 1 per cent chance\u201d that his wife, first lady Melania Trump, would believe it happened.<\/p>\n

Comey said that struck him as odd. \u201cI remember thinking, \u2018How could your wife think there\u2019s a 1 per cent chance you were with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow?\u2019 \u201d he said, adding that his assessment was it\u2019s possible Trump is guilty of the accusation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don\u2019t know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013,\u201d Comey said. \u201cIt\u2019s possible, but I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comey said it was possible, too, that the Russians might have material that could be used to blackmail Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think the Russians have something on Donald Trump?\u201d Stephanopoulos asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s possible. I don\u2019t know. These are more words I never thought I\u2019d utter about a president of the United States, but it\u2019s possible,\u201d Comey responded.<\/p>\n

Comey described in great detail several conversations he had with Trump, telling Stephanopoulos of how the president asked for his loyalty and how that interaction and others reminded him of his time as a prosecutor in New York pursuing mafia families, for whom loyalty to the boss and the organisation were the only values that mattered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the family, the family, the family, the family,\u201d Comey said.<\/p>\n

Trump has denied asking for Comey\u2019s loyalty.Comey offered a blunt assessment of a conversation with Trump on February 14, 2017, during which Comey maintains the president said of an investigation the FBI was conducting into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, \u201cI hope you can let it go.\u201d Trump disputes Comey\u2019s account.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith that direction, was President Trump obstructing justice?\u201d Stephanopoulos asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cPossibly,\u201d Comey responded. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s certainly some evidence of obstruction of justice. That something really important just happened and that I was a little \u2013 another one of those outta-body experiences, like, \u2018Really? The president just kicked out the attorney general to ask me to drop a criminal investigation.\u2019 Wow, the world continues to go crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comey even took aim at Trump\u2019s personal appearance, remarking how his \u201ctie was too long, as it always is\u201d and that his face \u201clooked slightly orange up close with small white \u2013 half moons under his eyes, which I assume are from tanning goggles.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former FBI boss acknowledged he had grave misgivings about the Trump presidency even before it began.<\/p>\n

In a meeting with president Barack Obama in the last days of his administration, Comey says he told the president: \u201cI dread the next four years. But in many ways, I feel great pressure to stay to try and protect the institution I lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Trump bore the brunt of his criticism, Comey also took aim at others \u2013 including Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whom Trump has been contemplating removing from his post.<\/p>\n

Comey said Rosenstein had \u201cacted dishonourably\u201d in authoring a memo lambasting Comey\u2019s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton\u2019s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Trump cited the memo in firing Comey, and Comey said he came to believe Rosenstein was \u201cpart of the family now. I can\u2019t trust him.\u201d<\/p>\n

He later said, though, that he did not believe Rosenstein would fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller if ordered by Trump to do so, and that Rosenstein \u201chas an opportunity in overseeing Bob Mueller to restore some of his professional reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he has in the past, Comey offered a vigorous defence of his handling of the Clinton email investigation.<\/p>\n

Parts of the interview are likely to revive the fury of Clinton supporters who think he cost her the presidency by reopening the email investigation less than two weeks before the election.<\/p>\n

When Stephanopoulos asked him if the decision was \u201cinfluenced by your assumption that Hillary Clinton was going to win,\u201d Comey replied: \u201cIt must have been. I don\u2019t remember consciously thinking about that, but it must have been. \u2018Cause I was operating in a world where Hillary Clinton was going to beat Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said he was sorry for how he handled the first announcement in July 2016 that he was closing the Clinton email probe without seeking any charges. He says he agrees now with the criticism that his remarks muddied important issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry that I caused all kinds of confusion and pain with the way I described her conduct that led people into all kinds of side roads,\u201d Comey said.<\/p>\n

Throughout the interview, Comey stressed the importance of telling the truth, a theme in his book. He described being initially reluctant to prosecute Martha Stewart for lying to investigators, but then recalled a case when he was a federal prosecutor in Richmond and had charged a minister with the same thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd there once was a day when people were afraid of goin\u2019 to hell if they took an oath in the name of God and violated it. We\u2019ve drifted away from that day. And so in its place has to be a fear that if you lie and the government can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, they will prosecute you in order to send a message to all the others who might be called upon to give evidence,\u201d Comey said. \u201cWe must prosecute people who lie in the middle of an investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comments come a day after the Justice Department inspector general released a report accusing Andrew McCabe, Comey\u2019s former deputy, of lying repeatedly as they investigated a media disclosure he had authorised. The inspector general says McCabe even lied to Comey, though McCabe disputes Comey\u2019s account.<\/p>\n

After he was fired, Comey said, Trump issued an order that he was not to be allowed back in the FBI building, even to retrieve his belongings. His firing came as Comey was visiting the FBI office in Los Angeles, and for a brief moment it wasn\u2019t even clear if he would be allowed to ride on the government plane back to Washington.<\/p>\n

When he did get on the plane, he decided to open a bottle of wine. \u201cI drank red wine from a paper cup and just looked out at the lights of the country I love so much as we flew home,\u201d he said.The Washington Post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018I honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don\u2019t know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow\u2019, the fired FBI chief says Former FBI Director James Comey said in his first televised interview since being fired that he believed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[44,5,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n