ABC News
James Comey during an interview with ABC News about his relationship with Donald Trump.
- Former FBI director James Comey says in his new book that Trump reminds him of a mob boss.
- Comey, who used to prosecute organized criminals, said being in the Trump White House gave him flashbacks.
- He cites "lying about all things," Trump's need for "complete control" and an obsession with personal loyalty as gangster-like behavior from Trump.
James Comey repeatedly compares President Donald Trump to a mob boss in his bombshell memoir, according to leaked extracts of the book.
The former FBI director describes attempts by the President and his circle to draw him into his confidence, as well as an obsession with personal loyalty reminiscent of Italian mafias.
It follows a teaser trailer released yesterday in which Comey was asked about the mob boss comparison by ABC host George Stephanopoulos.
Extracts published in the past 24 hours by ABC News and the Guardian include repeated references and comparisons, which draw on Comey's experience of prosecuting mobsters earlier in his career.
Here's how he described a meeting about Russian election interference, in which he briefed Trump's circle and was kept in the room while they worked out how to respond:
"I had never seen anything like it in the Oval Office. As I found myself thrust into the Trump orbit, I once again was having flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the Mob.
"The silent circle of assent. The boss in complete control. The loyalty oaths. The us-versus-them worldview.
"The lying about all things, large and small, in service to some code of loyalty that put the organization above morality and the truth."
Describing a different meeting with Trump in January 2017, where he was asked for his personal loyalty, Comey again said it reminded him of the mafia:
"To my mind, the demand was like Sammy the Bull's Cosa Nostra induction ceremony - with Trump in the role of the family boss, asking me if I have what it takes to be a 'made man'."
Sammy the Bull is the nickname of Salvatore Gravano, a notorious New York gangster who was part of the Gambino crime family.
Here's how he described a meeting about Russian election interference, in which he briefed Trump's circle and was kept in the room while they worked out how to respond:
"Holy crap, they are trying to make each of us an 'amica nostra' - a friend of ours. To draw us in.
"As crazy as it sounds, I suddenly had the feeling that, in the blink of an eye, the president-elect was trying to make us all part of the same family."
Trump and his allies have repeatedly derided Comey as untrustworthy and biased against the president.
A website funded the Republican National Committee, Lyin' Comey.com, includes a long list of political figures questioning his credibility, claims that he is a liar, and describes him as a "politically motivated Washington insider."