James Comey
Former FBI Director James Comey became infamous for the way he handled the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation in 2016, which many people think resulted in Donald Trump's election. In his first memoir, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, Comey explains the Clinton incident from his point of view, in an attempt to justify what he did.
Hillary Clinton
This second memoir is about Comey's life and career, including memorable cases he was involved with. Still, Comey apparently feels the need to double down about the Clinton business and he repeatedly emphasizes the need for 'honesty' to maintain public trust. Then, in the concluding chapters, Comey implicitly uses 'honesty' as a rationalization for his actions vis a vis Clinton. Moreover, Comey blames Robert Mueller - who was too upright to say Trump is a crook in plain English - for empowering Trump to lie to the American public.
Robert Mueller
Comey is especially critical of Trump co-opting the Justice Department. Comey notes, "From the beginning, America built and nurtured institutions to find truth." However, this ideal is hard to achieve, and Comey admits the justice system often falls short: innocent people get convicted, too many people of color go to jail, and too many poor people lack decent representation. Still, Comey believes the United States Department of Justice was relatively trustworthy until Trump made Bill Barr attorney general.
Donald Trump
Bill Barr
Attorney General Barr and other Trump loyalists served the interests of the president rather than those of the country, and the damage they did is enormous and must be repaired.
All that said, the Trump administration is in the past, and will be discussed by pundits, writers, and historians for decades. Thus I'm going to talk about other parts of the book.
Early in Comey's career as a federal prosecutor he dealt with a case that was "kind of cool." A man calling himself Michael Anderson posed as a U.S. government employee and tried to rent a top-floor luxury apartment in Manhattan. Anderson was arrested and found to be an illegal Iranian national with a huge array of weapons. While awaiting trial, the Iranian and two cellmates, who were housed in a seventh floor prison cell, made a rope out of dental floss and escaped out a window.
The prisoners were captured, and the Iranian went on to flee once again. Luckily (for America) the Iranian was eventually detained, tried, and sentenced to a long prison term.
*****
A robbery in Manhattan's fur district netted the crooks 121 fur coats and 8,180 fur pelts - and left the owner and his foreman tied up in the fur company's vault. The insurance company suspected an inside job and contacted the FBI. The FBI did a minute by minute re-creation of the alleged crime and discovered that the theft - as described by the victims - was impossible. The insurance company didn't pay up. 🙂
*****
As an example of being honest with the American people, Comey relates a story about President Bush's decision to hold an American citizen named Jose Padilla in military custody as an 'enemy combatant.'
Jose Padilla
This was almost unprecedented and many people - who didn't know the reasons for Padilla's detention - made a fuss. Comey arranged to release an unclassified summary of Padilla's involvement with Al Qaeda, so Americans could understand the threat he represented. Comey observes, "Transparency was essential to trust."
*****
Comey also relates stories about the FBI bugging Mafia boss John Gotti;
John Gotti
the complications of protecting a criminal in the WITSEC program;
the church shooter Dylann Storm Roof being able to buy a gun because of an inadvertent error by an FBI employee;
Dylann Storm Roof
wrongful convictions that were overturned; and much more.
*****
On a personal note, Comey tells tales about his private life, his wife Patrice, and their five children.
James Comey with his wife, Patrice Failor, and their children
Comey did his best to balance work and family, and speaks about bathing the children, reading to them, putting them to bed, etc. Comey also admits that his career upended the family time after time, and required moves from Virginia to New York and back again. Through all this the family lived in a variety of abodes, ranging from small apartments to extended stay hotels to modest houses. Sometimes, Comey and his wife had to sit out in hotel hallways to talk, so the kids wouldn't hear. (Patrice was a great sport in my opinion.)
James Comey and his wife Patrice Failor
Comey also relates amusing stories about his height, 6' 8", which once forced him to 'manspread' during a television interview with Katie Couric in a cramped space. (Comey's mother would have disapproved.)
After Comey reminds us of President Trump's inappropriate attempts to enlist his 'loyalty' when he was FBI director (detailed in A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership) Comey observes, "It is time for America to move past a fallen and corrupt president and turn to the work of restoration. There is much to do, but the recipe is simple. Tell the American people the truth, about everything." To that I say amen.
There aren't any spectacular revelations in the book, but I like stories about the legal system, so I enjoyed Comey's anecdotes about his work as a prosecutor, private attorney, and FBI director.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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