Less than a year after FBI director James Comey was fired—and after a significant advance, no doubt—he has come out with a book, Truth, Lies and Leadership. A widely anticipated tell-all, everything to ensure that it becomes a bestseller has been followed to the script. President Donald Trump has come out all guns blazing—“A proven leaker and liar, weak and untruthful slime ball'', are just some of his colourful adjectives. He threatened Comey with prosecution, saying that it was his honour to fire him. His job of “handling the crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst botch jobs in history'', he tweeted. The criticism forced a memo—which Comey judiciously kept, while he was FBI director, on the conversations he had with Trump—to be leaked.
So, is it worth it? For all the promises of a tell-all, Comey doesn't really spill the beans. Not all of them, anyway. He does confirm—a “stunning” assessment—that Russia was involved. Russian President Vladimir Putin “ordered an extensive effort to influence the 2016 presidential elections”. This was through “cyber activity, social media”, to denigrate Hillary Clinton so that Trump gets elected. Comey writes about how Putin hates Hillary.
But, if you're looking for juicy details on Trump, you might be in for some disappointment. Comey had to brief the president-elect on what, he writes, is now commonly known as the "Steele dossier”. It contained information gathered by a former allied intelligence officer, but which was not validated. It had “wild stuff”, including that Trump engaged in “unusual sexual activities with prostitutes in Russia, while on a trip to Moscow in 2013”. This included “prostitutes urinating on a hotel bed in the presidential suite of the Ritz Carlton”, where the Obamas had spent the night. Another allegation was that these activities were filmed by the Russian intelligence to blackmail Trump.
The meeting in which he does bring up the details is awkward for Comey—he describes it as an out-of-the-body experience. Trump denied that “he was eager to protest the allegations weren't true”. “I added that I wasn't saying that the FBI believes the allegations,” he writes. The only thing was to let him know they were being circulated. “He again strongly denied the allegations, asking...whether he seemed like a guy who needed the service of prostitutes,'' writes Comey.
The relationship is described as uncomfortable by Comey, though he doesn't use the word. He talks about an awkward hug that Trump bestowed on him in full public view. Then, there is the famous one-on-one dinner. The memos sort of fill in the blanks that Comey left out in his book. In the book, he describes how Trump asked for loyalty. Trump also tells him his wife doesn't believe the lies about the prostitutes, even one per cent.
“Life begins with a lie,” writes Comey. “Everyone lies at some point in their life. The important questions are about what, and how often?” Comey hasn't told the complete truth either, even though it is an immensely readable book, in which he is a hero. There is a time when he is completely honest—perhaps, the most damning indictment on American intelligence, when he writes, “Like many others, I was surprised when Donald Trump got elected.”