Former FBI Director James Comey told ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos that President Trump is "morally unfit" to be president, primarily because he lies "constantly about matters big and small." But when Stephanopoulos, in their interview that aired Sunday night, asked if the correct remedy was to impeach Trump, Comey gave what he called "a strange answer":
I hope not, because I think impeaching and removing Donald Trump from office would let the American people off the hook and have something happen indirectly that I believe they're duty-bound to do directly. People in this country need to stand up and go to the voting booth and vote their values. We'll fight about guns. We'll fight about taxes. We'll fight about all those other things down the road. But you cannot have, as president of the United States, someone who does not reflect the values that I believe Republicans treasure and Democrats treasure and Independents treasure. That is the core of this country. That's our foundation. And so impeachment, in a way, would short circuit that. [James Comey, ABC News]
Earlier in the interview, Comey said Trump had demonstrated at least "some evidence of obstruction of justice," and he clarified after his impeachment comment that he's not saying Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team should "stop doing their investigation or whatever flows from that. But in a way, as a citizen, I think we owe it to each other to get off the couch and think about what unites us."
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.
-
Rob Jetten: the centrist millennial set to be the Netherlands’ next prime ministerIn the Spotlight Jetten will also be the country’s first gay leader
-
Codeword: November 4, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
JD Vance wades into choppy religious waters about wife UshaTHE EXPLAINER By emphasizing his hope that the Second Lady convert to Christianity, the Vice President of the United States is inviting controversy from across the religious spectrum
-
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
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
