James Comey says the GOP needs to be 'burned down or changed,' calling the pro-Trump riot at the Capitol 'our own Chernobyl'
- Former FBI Director James Comey eviscerated President Donald Trump, his supporters, and the Republican Party in an interview with The Guardian.
- He described the pro-Trump riot at the Capitol as the US's "Chernobyl" — referring to the 1986 nuclear accident — saying it was the result of a breakdown in the country's checks and balances caused by Trump.
- Comey has been forthright about the president in recent days, telling ABC News he has reservations about giving him post-presidential intelligence briefings.
- Comey also criticized Trump's personal character, saying his lies make him "uniquely able to bend people."
Former FBI Director James Comey said that the Republican Party needs to be "burned down or changed," and called the pro-Trump Capitol riot "our own Chernobyl" in a searing interview with The Guardian published Tuesday.
In the interview, Comey called for a different conservative party, saying the GOP as it exists is "built on lies and racism and know-nothingism."
"Something is shifting and I'm hoping it's the fault breaking apart, a break between the Trumpists and those people who want to try and build a responsible conservative party, because everybody should know that we need one," he said.
"Who would want to be part of an organization that at its core is built on lies and racism and know-nothingism? It's just not a healthy political organization."
In the Guardian interview, he also drew an analogy between the 1986 nuclear meltdown in Soviet Ukraine and Trump's term, saying that the president had removed the political and cultural norms that tame "radioactive release," most recently in his encouragement of the protests that led to the riots of January 6.
"What Donald Trump has done for the last five years is attack the building from the outside to weaken its foundation," Comey told The Guardian. "He's withdrawn the control rods, and that's a recipe for a nuclear disaster, a radioactive release."
"That's what you saw on Capitol Hill, our own Chernobyl, when the ugly radioactive violence and racism of America explodes in public view," he told the paper.
The White House and the Republican National Committee did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Comey has been outspoken in his criticism of the president since he was fired in 2017. He told ABC News last week that he has reservations about giving Trump intelligence briefings when he leaves office, saying: "You want to be very, very careful about what you give him."
Comey's 2017 firing came as he was investigating the Trump campaign's ties to Russia.
Comey also dealt a blow to Trump's personal character in the interview, describing dealings with the president as unpleasant and having a morally caustic effect.
"Donald Trump conveys a menace, a meanness in private that is not evident in most public views of him," he told the paper.
Comey also referred to Trump's lies and misinformation, saying: "He rarely stops talking in a way that not only is filled with constant lying, but draws those to whom he's speaking into an involuntary circle of assent."
"I think it's something about that combination that makes him uniquely able to bend people - and he has bent lot of people," he added. "It's a really hard thing to resist. I bent in small ways that I convinced myself were tactical."