Seven Explosive Excerpts from James Comey's Book, 'A Higher Loyalty'

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | April 12, 2018 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | April 12, 2018 |

The review embargo on James Comey’s book, A Higher Loyalty, has lifted, and quotes from the book are making their rounds. We’ll likely dig deeper into this later, but here are several explosive quotes from the book to sate you for the time being:

— “This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values…His leadership is transactional, ego driven and about personal loyalty.”

— Trump asked Comey to investigate the “pee tape” to disprove it and allay Melania’s concerns that it might be true, “asking — rhetorically, I assumed — whether he seemed like a guy who needed the service of prostitutes. He then began discussing cases where women had accused him of sexual assault, a subject I had not raised. He mentioned a number of women, and seemed to have memorized their allegations.”

“For about the fourth time, he argued that the golden showers thing wasn’t true, asking yet again, ‘Can you imagine me, hookers?’” Comey writes of their March phone call.

— “His hands were smaller than mine.”

— Trump’s demand for loyalty was “like Sammy the Bull’s Cosa Nostra induction ceremony.”

— Comey noted that his interactions with Trump were like “flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the Mob… The lying about all things, large and small, in service to some code of loyalty that put the organization above morality and above the truth.”

— “They lose the ability to distinguish between what’s true and what’s not. They surround themselves with other liars . . . Perks and access are given to those willing to lie and tolerate lies. This creates a culture, which becomes an entire way of life.”

— “We are experiencing a dangerous time in our country, with a political environment where basic facts are disputed, fundamental truth is questioned, lying is normalized and unethical behavior is ignored, excused or rewarded.”

— Comey concedes that his belief that Clinton would win the election factored into why he announced that the emails investigation had been re-opened. “Certainly not consciously, but I would be a fool to say it couldn’t have had an impact on me. It is entirely possible my concern about making her an illegitimate president by concealing the restarted investigation bore greater weight than it would have if the election appeared closer or if Donald Trump were ahead in all polls. But I don’t know.”

He also added, “I have read she has felt anger toward me personally, and I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry that I couldn’t do a better job explaining to her and her supporters why I made the decisions I made.”

This is the most important news so far out of the Comey book: Trump, as president-elect, didn't give a damn about the Russian attack on the US and was unconcerned about preventing a repeat. That is a profound dereliction of duty. pic.twitter.com/jIGmEJI5S3

— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) April 12, 2018