Comey says John Kelly was so disgusted by his firing he wanted to quit in protest

John Kelly and Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

In his new book, former FBI Director James Comey writes that after he was famously fired last May, he received an "emotional call" from John Kelly, at the time the secretary of Homeland Security, who said "he was sick about my firing" and "intended to quit in protest."

Comey discovered he had been canned while talking to FBI employees in Los Angeles, after looking up at a television and seeing the alert "COMEY FIRED." During their call, Kelly said he "didn't want to work for dishonorable people who would treat someone like me in such a manner," Comey said. "I urged Kelly not to do that, arguing that the country needed principled people around this president. Especially this president."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.