Former FBI Director James Comey became a household name during the run-up to the 2016 election, for the way he handled the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation. Later, Comey became even more famous when he declined to be 'persuaded' by Donald Trump, who wanted NO INVESTIGATION into charges of collusion between Trump's election team and Russia. When Comey refused to kowtow to Trump's demands he was abruptly and publicly fired. Of course this didn't do Trump much good, since Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel to look into the allegations. 😀
James Comey
In this memoir, Comey explains the Clinton and Trump incidents from his point of view, but not until the end of the book, after he's related other stories about his life and work.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
Comey acknowledges that anyone writing about ethical leadership can come across as presumptuous and sanctimonious. Nevertheless, he felt compelled to write this book because "we are experiencing dangerous times, where truth is distorted." Perhaps to anticipate criticism, Comey also admits that he's stubborn, prideful, and driven by ego.....and knows he can be wrong.
Comey was always a 'law and order' type of guy, and - after graduating from law school - worked as a prosecutor for most of his life. Comey may have been drawn to this profession because of a traumatic incident when he was a high school senior living in Allendale, New Jersey. That fall - when the 'Ramsey Rapist' was terrorizing northern New Jersey - an armed gunman broke into the Comey home and held a gun on James and his younger brother. The robber demanded to know where the valuables were kept, and James - who was paralyzed with fear - immediately spilled the beans.....even revealing the location of piggy banks and birthday money.
James was almost certain the gunman would kill him and his brother, but they managed to get away and call the police. The robber was arrested and tried, though not convicted. However, the 'Ramsey Rapist' attacks stopped, perhaps because the perpetrator was now in police sights.
Even before the gunman incident, James' high school years were difficult. He had been a popular little boy in Yonkers, New York before the family moved to Allendale, New Jersey, where James was enrolled in Brookdale Elementary School. The kids in the new school made fun of James' haircuts (administered by mom), cheap clothes, and clunky shoes, and they constantly bullied him and started fights. The torment went on all the way through high school, leaving James with few classroom friends.
Comey admits he later became a bully himself, when he joined a group of young men who relentlessly harassed a fellow freshman at The College of William and Mary. Afterwards, James regretted his behavior, which he concedes was cowardly and shameful. Comey didn't jump on many bandwagons after that.
There were also positive influences during James' teenage years. He connected with his teachers and liked Harry Howell, the supervisor at the grocery store where he had a part-time job. In Comey's words, "Howell created an environment that was demanding and incredibly fun. He cared about the boys, and they loved him in return." Moreover, stockboy mistakes - like spilling liquids in the aisle - were corrected with understanding and compassion. Howell's empathy may have informed Comey's own leadership philosophy later in life.
Early in Comey's career he became a lawyer in the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York, where he worked under Rudolph Giuliani. Giuliani was an egoist who always placed himself at center stage and took credit for everyone's work. (He still loves the public eye, IMO. 🤨) It was then that Comey decided this wasn't the best way to run an agency, and did things differently when he became a supervisor.
Rudolph Giuliani
As a director in the Southern District of New York, Comey got the opportunity to prosecute a number of Mafia bigwigs, such as John Gambino - head of the Mafia's Sicilian faction. Comey realized that Mafia dons are "part of a common species: the bully who threatens the weak to feed some insecurity inside them." Comey's anecdotes about the Cosa Nostra are insightful and fascinating.
John Gambino
After working in New York for several years, Comey entered the private sector, having promised his wife Patrice that the family would live in Virginia. During this time, James and Patrice lost a newborn baby, Collin, who died from Group B Strep - a preventable infection that THEIR doctor and hospital didn't test for. The Comeys were furious, and Patrice started a nationwide campaign that forced all doctors to test for the Strep B bacteria. Patrice's quest to make things right for all mothers influenced Comey's view of the purpose of the justice system, and persuaded him to return to public service.
Back in the public harness, Comey assisted with the infamous Whitewater probe; led the investigation into the terrorist bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia; became the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and finally returned to the Southern District of New York, where - in 2002 - he stood at Ground Zero and "thought about the unimaginable loss."
Later, Comey prosecuted the very popular lifestyle guru Martha Stewart for lying to the FBI during an investigation into insider trading. At this time, Comey got his first taste of public condemnation and hate, which was good practice for the future. 😀 Comey wasn't anxious to prosecute Stewart, whose cooking tips taught him to put basil leaves under the skin of a turkey, but couldn't justify prosecuting 'small fry' if he let 'big fry' go.
Martha Stewart
Turkey with basil leaves under the skin
Afterwards. when Comey became Deputy Attorney General (DAG) - under Attorney General John Ashcroft - he got involved in serious skirmishes with President George W. Bush and his administration.
- Comey was instrumental in prosecuting the Bush insider, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, in connection with the 'outing' of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame. Plame was targeted after her husband, Joseph Wilson, published a newspaper piece criticizing Bush for invading Iraq. Bush claimed that Saddam Hussein had bought uranium and Wilson claimed there was no evidence for this.
- Comey believed that torturing accused terrorists ("enhanced interrogation") was against the law, as was the NSA's widespread surveillance of Americans. The Bush administration, by contrast, insisted these practices were necessary and legal. This tug-of-war led to an incident worthy of a movie thriller, as Comey raced to the side of hospitalized Attorney General Ashcroft, to prevent Bush's cronies from bullying Ashcroft into acceding to their demands.
Comey's wife Patrice encouraged him to stand his ground, saying "Don't be the torture guy"..... and Comey's descriptions of enhanced interrogation techniques are graphic and bone chilling.
James Comey and his wife Patrice
After his stint as DAG, Comey returned to private enterprise - to make money to send his five children to college.
James Comey with his wife and children
Having accumulated a nice nest egg, Comey agreed to become FBI director under President Barack Obama. Comey liked Obama, but understood that the FBI Director and the President can't be buddies. To prevent even the appearance of impropriety, the President and the Director can't have private meetings; play golf; have dinner alone; etc. No personal hobnobbing! (This 'rule' seems to elude Trump. More about this later.)
Barack Obama and James Comey in the Oval Office. Comey snagged an apple for his daughter, who asked for one.
Comey was FBI Director for 3 years 8 months and 5 days, during which time he dealt with vital issues, such as:
- The tragic and repeated killing of black youths by law enforcement officers, and the occasional murder of cops in retaliation. Comey attempted to highlight the situation and force a conversation, with little success.
- Edward Snowden's release of classified NSA data, which led corporations to create unbreakable encryptions that put them (and their clients) outside the eyes of the law. This appalled Comey, and he tried to take corrective measures, but encryption remains an ongoing problem.
Finally, Comey writes about the Clinton and Trump uproars, which will probably haunt him until eternity.
In 2015, Clinton was accused of using her private email to discuss classified information when she did her work as Secretary of State. When the FBI investigated these allegations, they had to answer two questions:
- Was classified information discussed outside a secure server?
- What was Clinton thinking? Was she sloppy? Or was there criminal intent?
Looking back at previous investigations into mishandling of classified information, the FBI found that cases resulting in prosecution involved some combination of the following factors:
- Clearly intentional and willful handling of classified information.
- Vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct.
- Indications of disloyalty to the United States.
- Efforts to obstruct justice.
The FBI concluded that these criteria did not apply to Clinton. Their report, issued on July 5, 2016, stated that Clinton was "extremely careless" but "no charges were appropriate." Both Republicans and Democrats were furious with the statement, which seems to support Comey's assertion that there was no political bias in the investigation.
Later on, a couple of weeks before the election, a huge trove of Clinton emails were found on the computer of disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner, husband of Clinton's assistant Huma Abedin. At this time, Comey made the foolish (IMO) decision to publicly announce that the FBI was reopening the Clinton email probe.
Anthony Weiner
The whole business came to naught (still no prosecutable offense), but the incident may well have influenced voters - and Comey goes to great lengths to justify what he did. To me, Comey comes off as arrogant, supercilious, and too full of himself, but I'll leave it to history to analyze the consequences of his actions.
The Clinton email hullaballoo wasn't the only issue concerning the FBI before the 2016 election. The intelligence community had evidence that Russia was trying to interfere with the U.S. election by doing three things: undermining confidence in the American democratic enterprise; hurting Hillary Clinton; and helping Donald Trump win. One wonders why the government didn't do anything about this BEFORE the election, but once again history will have to elucidate.
In any case, when Trump became President-elect, the FBI had to tell him about Russia's egregious actions, which included - among other things - cyberactivity; manipulation of social media; and use of Russian state media to influence the American election.
It fell to Comey to speak to Trump about an especially sensitive issue. A dossier was circulating that said Trump consorted with prostitutes when he was in Moscow for the 'Miss Universe' contest in 2013. Furthermore, Trump supposedly hired prostitutes to pee on each other (called a golden shower) in a bed used by the Obamas when they visited Russia. Worse yet, Russia supposedly filmed the incidents, which would provide material for blackmail - a definite FBI concern!
Trump was outraged at the allegations, and obsessively denied them again and again. He asked Comey, "Do I seem like the kind of guy who needs to use prostitutes?" For weeks and months afterward Trump would bring up the allegations - and vigorously deny them - whenever he spoke to Comey. And Trump spoke to Comey a lot.
Trump phoned the Director repeatedly to 'say hello'; invited Comey to a one-on-one dinner; arranged private meetings with Comey; and so on. During one tête-à -tête, Trump asked for assurances that he wasn't under investigation for colluding with Russia, and asked Comey to make a public announcement verifying this. Comey refused. Trump insisted that he needed loyalty from the FBI, and hinted that Comey would be fired if he didn't comply. Comey had the impression that the President wanted to make him part of the administration's 'inner circle', like a Mafia don with his capos.
Comey tried to make it clear that the Director had to be independent of the White House, but found it hard to get a word in edgewise when speaking to Trump. According to Comey, Trump talks and talks and talks non-stop, determined to foist his point of view on everyone around him. And Trump lies. During one sit down with the President, Trump asserted that he had the biggest inaugural crowd in history (not true); that he never mistreated women (not true); that the golden shower thing never happened (truth unknown); etc. In Comey's view, "Trump built a cocoon of alternative reality and expected everyone to agree with him."
During the short time Comey was FBI Director under Trump, the President tried to pressure him about several vital matters.
- After General Mike Flynn, the National Security Advisor, was forced to resign for lying to the FBI about talking to the Russian Ambassador, Trump finagled a private meeting with Comey. Trump told the Director that "Flynn did nothing wrong" and that "Flynn was a good guy." The President then asked Comey to "let it go." The FBI didn't let it go, and expanded the matter into an investigation of Russian interference in the election.
- Once the Russia investigation became serious, Trump called Comey and said "the Russia business was a cloud preventing him from leading the country." He asked the Director to "drop the matter."
Comey didn't drop the matter and was fired on May 9, 2017
In Comey's opinion, Trump is an unethical, untruthful, ego-driven person who lacks leadership qualities and threatens what's good in this country. Nevertheless, Comey believes "America is going to be fine." Fingers crossed he's right.🤞
*****
My impression of James Comey is that he's a good husband and father and - in social situations - affable and unpretentious. Comey mentions that he mostly lunched at his desk, alternating turkey and tuna fish sandwiches, or waited in line at the FBI cafeteria - though people in front were getting paninis that took forever. 😊 Can you imagine many powerful people doing this?
In the period before the 2016 election Comey may have done what he thought was right, or he may have had his eye on his personal legacy. Hard to know. In any case, the Director apparently torpedoed Hillary Clinton's chances of winning and helped saddle us with Donald Trump, which infuriates me. But - to give the devil his due - Comey may not have done it on purpose, especially since his wife and daughters supported Clinton. 💖 In the end, I'd probably have coffee with the guy, who appears to be intelligent, interesting, and well-spoken.
Rating: 5 stars
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