Friday, April 13, 2018

James Comey Has a Story to Tell & Comey book filled with unproven attacks

What "A Higher Loyalty" does give readers are some near-cinematic accounts of what Comey was thinking when, as he's previously said, Trump demanded loyalty from him during a one-on-one dinner at the White House; when Trump pressured him to let go of the investigation into his former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn; and when the president asked what Comey could do to "Lift the cloud" of the Russia investigation.

There are some methodical explanations in these pages of the reasoning behind the momentous decisions Comey made regarding Hillary Clinton's emails during the 2016 campaign - explanations that attest to his nonpartisan and well-intentioned efforts to protect the independence of the F.B.I., but that will leave at least some readers still questioning the judgment calls he made, including the different approaches he took in handling the bureau's investigation into Clinton and its investigation into the Trump campaign.

Comey draws a scathing portrait of Vice President Dick Cheney's legal adviser David S. Addington, who spearheaded the arguments of many hard-liners in the George W. Bush White House; Comey describes their point of view: "The war on terrorism justified stretching, if not breaking, the written law." He depicts Bush national security adviser and later Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as uninterested in having a detailed policy discussion of interrogation policy and the question of torture.

Comey is what Saul Bellow called a "First-class noticer." He notices "The soft white pouches under" Trump's "Expressionless blue eyes"; coyly observes that the president's hands are smaller than his own "But did not seem unusually so"; and points out that he never saw Trump laugh - a sign, Comey suspects, of his "Deep insecurity, his inability to be vulnerable or to risk himself by appreciating the humor of others, which, on reflection, is really very sad in a leader, and a little scary in a president."

During his Senate testimony last June, Comey was boy-scout polite and somewhat elliptical in explaining why he decided to write detailed memos after each of his encounters with Trump, talking gingerly about "The nature of the person I was interacting with." Here Comey is blunt about what he thinks of the president, comparing Trump's demand for loyalty over dinner to "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.'".

Throughout his tenure in the Bush and Obama administrations, Comey was known for his fierce, go-it-alone independence, and Trump's behavior catalyzed his worst fears - that the president symbolically wanted the leaders of the law enforcement and national security agencies to come "Forward and kiss the great man's ring." Comey was feeling unnerved from the moment he met Trump.

Put the two men's records, their reputations, even their respective books, side by side, and it's hard to imagine two more polar opposites than Trump and Comey: They are as antipodean as the untethered, sybaritic Al Capone and the square, diligent G-man Eliot Ness in Brian De Palma's 1987 movie "The Untouchables"; or the vengeful outlaw Frank Miller and Gary Cooper's stoic, duty-driven marshal Will Kane in Fred Zinnemann's 1952 classic "High Noon.".

Comey book filled with unproven attacks on Trump, lofty praise for himself
Fired FBI Director James Comey's new "Tell all" book is a dream come true for President Donald Trump's opponents and a hatchet job on the president.

On top of this, Comey repeats unproven salacious allegations about President Trump's sex life - a surefire way to increase book sales.

By contrast, Comey paints himself as the noble and heroic public servant - a veritable Superman, fighting the superhero's "Never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way." One thing you can say for Comey - he has a healthy sense of self-esteem.

Let's be honest: Comey wrote this book to retaliate against President Trump for firing him, make a huge amount of money, and establish himself as an American icon.

If the president doubts any of those attributes - as President Trump had good reason to do with Comey - he has every right to fire an official under Article II of the U.S. Constitution.

Now Comey styles himself a national hero, a status that he never had - but seems to have assumed for himself.

My sadness is only deeper because, in an earlier day, Comey was a man I recall sitting with in the National Security Council back when he was a deputy attorney general, more soft-spoken, not so impressed by himself.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/04/13/comey-book-filled-with-unproven-attacks-on-trump-lofty-praise-for-himself.html 

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