James Comey compared Trump to a 'mob boss' in his first major interview on the Russia probe

ABC News

James Comey during an interview with ABC News about his relationship with Donald Trump.

• Former FBI director James Comey gave an interview on his relationship with President Donald Trump.
• Trump fired Comey last year as his agency started in earnest to investigate possible collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign.
• A teaser of the exchange with ABC News suggests he referred to Trump as a "mob boss."
• The full interview is being aired this weekend, and will mark Comey's first substantive comments on his relationship

Former FBI director James Comey characterized Donald Trump as a "mob boss" in an interview with ABC News where he broke his long silence over his relationship with the president.

Comey, who was fired by Trump in May 2017, described the president in those terms in an exchange with ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos, which is being aired at the weekend.

The network published a teaser clip on Twitter early Thursday morning, featuring Stephanopoulos putting a series of questions to Comey.

His first is: "How strange is it for you to sit here and compare the president to a mob boss?" It cut to a different question before Comey responded.

It isn't clear whether Comey used the term "mob boss" in his description, or whether the choice of language belonged to Stephanopoulos.

The context of the characterization is the ongoing investigation by US authorities into accusations that Trump colluded with Russia during his campaign, then obstructed justice afterward an in attempt to cover it up.

Trump has denied all accusations against him, and has attacked Comey's integrity in the past. On Wednesday he again dismissed the investigation as a Democrat plot headed by people with serious conflicts of interest.

The interview is being broadcast by ABC at 10 pm eastern time on Sunday. It was recorded on Monday at Comey's home.

The day after the recording, Comey posted an image of the interview set on his Twitter account, while Stephanopoulos described the exchange as "quite a day."

The interview is the first substantive public statement by Comey since he was fired. It is part of a PR tour to promote his book, "A Higher Loyalty," which is due to be published on Tuesday April 17.