Comey reportedly told friends Trump was 'outside the realm of normal'
Former FBI Director James Comey didn't mince words when describing President Trump to associates: He was "outside the realm of normal" and "crazy," people with knowledge of his conversations told The New York Times.
Comey and Trump were never in sync; the president was angry that Comey didn't back him up on his baseless claim that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower, and he didn't think Comey did enough to stop leaks coming from the FBI, while Comey, besides thinking Trump was "crazy," worried he was a loose cannon who said inappropriate things, especially on Twitter, the Times reports. Trump was also outraged when Comey, during a hearing on Capitol Hill, said he was "mildly nauseous" at the thought that the way he handled Hillary Clinton's email investigation tipped the election to favor Trump, and that motivated him to fire Comey. "With a president who seems to prize personal loyalty above all else and a director with absolute commitment to the Constitution and pursuing investigations wherever the evidence led, a collision was bound to happen," Daniel C. Richman, a Comey adviser, told the Times.
Trump said he thought Comey's dismissal would go over well with Democrats, who didn't like how he bungled the Clinton case, and Trump was shocked when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who had been critical of Comey, told him during a phone call Tuesday it was a mistake. In another twist, chief strategist Stephen Bannon, no fan of the FBI, had urged Trump to hold off on the firing of Comey because of the timing, but Trump was supported by Vice President Mike Pence, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and chief of staff Reince Priebus, the Times reports. Read more about the unraveling of this hate-hate relationship at The New York Times.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
The rise in unregulated pregnancy scansUnder The Radar Industry body says some private scan clinics offer dangerously misleading advice
-
Democrats seek 2026 inspiration from special election routsIN THE SPOTLIGHT High-profile wins are helping a party demoralized by Trump’s reelection regain momentum
-
Film reviews: ‘Bugonia,’ ‘The Mastermind,’ and ‘Nouvelle Vague’feature A kidnapped CEO might only appear to be human, an amateurish art heist goes sideways, and Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Breathless’ gets a lively homage
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
