Politics
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File
Former FBI director James Comey.
- The former FBI director James Comey has a book due out next week that details some of the most dramatic moments of his career, including the tumultuous months that preceded his firing under President Donald Trump.
- In "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership," Comey recounts the 2016 US election, the FBI's investigation of Hillary Clinton's email use as secretary of state, Russian meddling aimed at boosting Donald Trump, and Comey's interactions with Trump soon after he took office.
- Comey also talks about some of the moments that defined his working relationship with President Barack Obama.
The book is due out on April 17, but excerpts have already begun to emerge. This is what we've learned so far:
- Comey said then-Homeland Security secretary John Kelly was incensed over Comey's dismissal. Kelly is said to have called Trump "dishonorable" and threatened to quit over Comey's firing.
- He asserts that President Barack Obama chose not to give many warnings about Russia's meddling in the 2016 US election because he thought Trump "was going to lose anyway." Obama also faced some resistance from congressional Republicans when he sought to make more noise about Russian interference.
- Trump asked Comey to look into one of the most salacious claims detailed in the infamous Steele dossier: that Trump entertained prostitutes while visiting Moscow in 2013, and that the women performed a sexual act in front of him. The president was concerned for First Lady Melania Trump. Comey was taken aback by the request.
- A conversation between Comey and Obama nearly left Comey in tears at a time when he was taking heavy criticism from Democrats who were unhappy about the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
- Comey threw jabs at Trump's appearance, saying he found the president to be shorter than expected with hands that were smaller than he expected.
- The former FBI director compared Trump to a mob boss in an ABC News interview set to air on Sunday, two days before "A Higher Loyalty" is released.
- Trump's allies have been trying to get ahead of Comey's book release by launching a media blitz to try to discredit him.
Trump fired Comey in May 2017. It happened months after the president first met with Comey and asked for his loyalty - and requested that the FBI drop its investigation into then-national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Those encounters, among other things, have since become part of an obstruction-of-justice investigation that special counsel Robert Mueller is conducting. That probe, along with the broader Russia investigation, has taken many turns, nearly one year since Mueller was appointed.
To date, the Trump administration remains steeped in controversy and turmoil, and it reached another pivotal moment this week after FBI agents raided the home and office of Trump's longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
That raid appears to have prompted Trump and his attorneys to scrap plans for a sit-down interview with Mueller. And while the development may ultimately hasten the conclusion of Mueller's investigation, what comes next could have a lasting impact on Trump's presidential legacy.