Oh Lordy! I was conflicted about James Comey before getting into this book. I still am, but less so. It's so much better hearing directly from a person in a long-format such as this, instead of reading headline news or a twitter post. You get much more detail and you don't have to assume so much.
Putting the presidential election aside, this book offers a ring-side seat to the inner workings of an FBI director. How cool is that? Despite what you may hear from the current white house, James Comey was highly-regarded director of the FBI. The recent Mueller report confirms that the white house press secretary Sarah Sanders directly lied to the public, painting Comey in a terrible light. It's a sad day when it is confirmed that the white house lies to us. What other lies are they telling us? In any case, to get a better idea of Comey's character, let's see what he has to say for himself. Here's a snapshot of Mueller's report:
"When a reporter indicated that the "vast majority" of FBI agents supported Corney, Sanders said , "Look, we've heard from countless members of the FBI that say very different things. " 48 Following the press conference, Sanders spoke to the President, who told her she did a good job and did not point out any inaccuracies in her comments. 481 Sanders told this Office that her reference to hearing from "countless members of the FBI" was a "slip of the tongue ."482 She also recalled that her statement in a separate press interview that rank-and-file FBI agents had lost confidence in Corney was a comment she made "in the heat of the moment" that was not founded on anything. 483"
Right off the bat, you can tell this book was highly motivated by his interaction with the orange orangutan in the white house. He immediately starts talking about bullies and mob bosses. While there have been no tapes brought forward confirming this, I believe Comey when he says that the orange idiot ask him for his loyalty. As far as I am concerned, the only possible way the orange idiot has gotten so far is that he was somehow able to recruit a bunch of loyalists who blindly put their faith in him. His longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen describes his blind loyalty in his testimony to congress.
I'm not well-versed in branches of government, so this book
was enlightening in the fact that Comey outlined the purpose of the FBI and the
'norms' of government. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, besides what I've
seen in film and TV, was a pretty big mystery to me, so it was interesting to
learn more about it from its former director. Who knew most FBI agents don't
actually carry guns?
My main reason for reading this book - as I am sure is the
same for many people, is I wanted to hear his explanation as to why the
investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails was made public. The title of the
book, 'A Higher Loyalty', I'm sure is a rebuke of Trump's advances and attempts
to recruit him - but also a message that he, along with the whole FBI, are a
separate bipartisan group that conducts their business independent of politics,
religion, etc. The emails sent on a private server was a HUGE mistake by
Clinton and they were brought to the attention of the FBI as the perfect time.
The FBI had no choice but to investigate them.
Comey claims that he doesn't know if this open investigation
had any effect on the election results and that if it did, it would make him,
'mildly nauseous'. I hate to say it, as I like the guy in general, but he's got
to be somewhat delirious if he thinks this didn't affect people's votes. Or
perhaps he says this to cover his butt and defend his action. While it didn't affect
my vote, I can easily imagine someone on the fence, being pushed over the edge
and cast their vote for Trump. Here's a good article that outlines the
likelihood of this FBI investigation affecting the election results:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-comey-letter-probably-cost-clinton-the-election/Despite this, however, I cannot put myself in his shoes. What was the right thing to do? Was he put in an impossible situation? Probably, yes. The thing we have to remember was, while he was the director, the decision was not his alone. He had his own council. The decision was to conceal or to speak. Also, Comey did not make the public announcement about reopening the investigation. What he did was send a private letter to congress about it. Then, congress let this out to the public. So, we cannot put the whole blame on Comey.
This book was about more than just the 2016 election. It also goes into the details about what happened afterward. Comey saw immediately that Trump was unfit to be president and that his actions mirrored those of a gang lord. While indeed the FBI director is appointed by the acting US president, the president does not dictate how the director does his or her job. While I don't believe there are any rules in stone about this, the general relationship between the FBI and the white house is limited. The president and the director don't generally speak unless it's at the daily white house briefing. In the case of Trump, Comey was on speedial. Any many occasions, Trump indirectly asked for Comey's loyalty and compliance. Trump even asked Comey to drop the investigation into Michael Flynn. Trump repeatedly pressed Comey on issues like this and tried to bring Comey to his side.
A few months later, Comey was fired - essentially on TV. Comey was in LA at a few FBI-related events and was caught completely off guard when he was told there was a press statement from the white house informing the public that he had been dismissed. This was obviously intentional from Trump himself, as far as I am concerned. This was punishment for refusing to become loyal and for not shutting down certain ongoing investigations.
There was a dismissal letter sent simultaneous to the public announcement by Sean Spicer, but I'm fairly certain Trump knew Comey was not in washington at the time. Since he had been dismissed, he immediately lost all his privileges of being in the FBI, which meant he was essentially stranded in LA without a ride back home. Luckily, the acting director McCabe authorized Comey to fly back. McCabe later received a scolding by Trump for authorizing this. Funny enough, McCabe was also fired by the white house a few years later.
Yes, we have a malicious monster in the white house. Hopefully, for not too much longer.
Related links:
C-Span Interview
Time article/video
Vox article on Clinton emails
Trump's dismissal letter to Comey
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