After conducting an exclusive taped interview with former FBI Director James Comey for an ABC News prime-time special Sunday night, on Tuesday, anchor George Stephanopoulos sat down for yet another exchange with Comey live on Good Morning America. However, this time, Stephanopoulos actually pressed the fired law enforcement official on the “petty personal details” about President Trump that he included in his new book.
“I guess it’s a critique of your literary style. A lot of people say you put too many petty personal details in the book about President Trump, talking about his hair, his hand size, speculation about the tanning goggles,” the anchor observed in the first part of the interview during the 7:30 a.m. ET half hour. Stephanopoulos added: “A lot of critics say that struck them as beneath you, getting down into the sandbox with President Trump. Any regrets?”
Comey dismissed such criticism: “No, my only regret is that those folks likely haven’t read the book. Because if you read the whole book, you’ll see I’m trying to be an author and bring the readers with me into a room. I describe all kinds of people in great detail to try and create a vivid image for the reader.” He then laughably claimed: “I’m not trying to make fun of President Trump, I’m not trying to make fun of anybody.”
Comey was just “trying to be author” and paint a “vivid image for the reader”? He’s not Stephen King.
In an earlier question, Stephanopoulos referred to some of Comey’s other critics:
A lot of Democrats unhappy with you as well, over your handling of the Clinton e-mail investigation. Drawing a response from Attorney General – former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who wrote in a statement yesterday, “If James Comey had any concerns regarding the e-mail investigation, classified or not, he had ample opportunities to raise them with me both privately and in meetings. He never did.”
On Monday, the GMA host touted how he grilled the former FBI Director over supposedly costing Hillary Clinton the 2016 election.
Stephanopoulos began the Tuesday segment by wringing his hands over “a tweet storm from President Trump,” and warning Comey: “The President says not only should you have been fired, but that you leaked classified information, lied to Congress under oath, for both of those infractions he says you should go to jail.” The host worried: “You think we’ve gotten too used to these tweets, dulled to what’s actually in them?”
In part two of the exchange, in the 8:00 a.m. ET hour, Stephanopoulos took time to lob softball’s about Comey being a fan of NBA star LeBron James:
STEPHANOPOULOS: And when you were director of the FBI you actually talked a lot about what you learned about leadership from probably the biggest star in the NBA.
JAMES COMEY: Yeah, LeBron James.
(...)
COMEY: I don’t want to offend anybody, but he’s the best basketball player on the Earth today. There may be – people have different views.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Uh-oh. [Laughter]
COMEY: I’m sorry, year 15 –
STEPHANOPOULOS: You can’t make anybody happy. [Laughter]
COMEY: Year 15 for LeBron and he is still the king, the top of the game.
That portion of the interview concluded with Stephanopoulos reading a question from a viewer on Twitter asking Comey: “If offered, would you go back to being the Director of the FBI under another presidential administration?”
Here are the questions Stephanopoulos asked Comey on the April 17 GMA:
7:32 AM ET
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Here with James Comey, his new book, A Higher Loyalty, is out today, this is his first live interview since the book’s been released and thank you for coming back right now.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: James Comey Responds to His Critics; Ex-FBI Director on Fallout From Bombshell Book]
I guess you knew this was coming, a lot of reaction from all sides, including a tweet storm from President Trump. I want to focus in on two of the President’s tweets because they’re the most serious. The President says not only should you have been fired, but that you leaked classified information, lied to Congress under oath, for both of those infractions he says you should go to jail.
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: You think we’ve gotten too used to these tweets, dulled to what’s actually in them?
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: A lot of Democrats unhappy with you as well, over your handling of the Clinton e-mail investigation. Drawing a response from Attorney General – former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who wrote in a statement yesterday, “If James Comey had any concerns regarding the e-mail investigation, classified or not, he had ample opportunities to raise them with me both privately and in meetings. He never did.”
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: But should you have gone to her directly and not wait to be asked?
JAMES COMEY: To my boss?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Sure.
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Third strand of criticism that’s come in is I guess it’s a critique of your literary style. A lot of people say you put too many petty personal details in the book about President Trump, talking about his hair, his hand size, speculation about the tanning goggles. A lot of critics say that struck them as beneath you, getting down into the sandbox with President Trump. Any regrets?
COMEY: No, my only regret is that those folks likely haven’t read the book. Because if you read the whole book, you’ll see I’m trying to be an author and bring the readers with me into a room. And so, I describe all kinds of people in great detail to try and create a vivid image for the reader. I’m not trying to make fun of President Trump, I’m not trying to make fun of anybody. But if you read the whole book, you’ll see I’m trying to give you that picture.STEPHANOPOULOS: Since we last talked last week, the President has pardoned Scooter Libby, who was an aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, convicted of lying about leaks of information during the Bush administration. What was – you actually worked on – appointed special prosecutor to look at Scooter Libby, back when you were at the Justice Department. What was your reaction to the pardon?
COMEY: It’s an attack on the rule of law.
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Also, since you – since we talked last week, the Inspector General of the Justice Department has come out with a report on your deputy at the FBI, Andrew McCabe. It says that he was not candid in his interviews. Did you read the report and do you agree with the decision the Attorney General made to fire Andrew McCabe?
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: So he didn’t deserve the discipline he got, Andrew McCabe?
COMEY: No, I think the process – I don’t have a view on what the ultimate discipline should have been, but this is the system working, separate and apart from the President’s effort to taint it. This is the Justice Department holding accountable its employees to the truth, and that’s really important.
STEPHANOPOULOS: While we were sitting down last Monday, the FBI conducted those raids of the offices of Michael Cohen, offices and home of Michael Cohen, the President’s personal attorney. That drew a very strong reaction from President Trump. Let’s look.
DONALD TRUMP: So I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys, good man, and it’s a disgraceful situation. It’s a total witch-hunt. And I have this witch-hunt constantly going on for over 12 months now and it’s a disgrace. It’s frankly a real disgrace. It’s an attack on our country in a true sense, it’s an attack on what we all stand for.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Called those FBI raids an attack on our country.
COMEY: Yeah, it shows me he either doesn’t know or doesn't care what the rule of law looks like.
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: James Comey, thanks very much. You’ll be back in our next half hour answering your questions. Of course that’s right here on GMA.
8:10 AM ET
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And welcome back to GMA. Welcome to our audience here. Welcome back to former FBI Director James Comey. Here to talk about his new book, A Higher Loyalty, that is out today. You see it right there.
And, you know, we’ve talked about a lot of the controversies over the last couple of years, but of course, your book covers a lot more than that. Yesterday, a lot of America got to meet your wife Patrice for the first time. And you all have been together since college. And I was struck by a story you told in the book early in your relationship, she actually literally saved your life.
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Just incredible. And you also shared the most searing experience any parents could have. You lost your son Collin when he was just a little baby.
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: You talk about leadership – you should clap for that, I think. Yeah. [Applause ] And when you were director of the FBI you actually talked a lot about what you learned about leadership from probably the biggest star in the NBA.
JAMES COMEY: Yeah, LeBron James.
(...)
COMEY: I don’t want to offend anybody, but he’s the best basketball player on the Earth today. There may be – people have different views.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Uh-oh. [Laughter]
COMEY: I’m sorry, year 15 –
STEPHANOPOULOS: You can’t make anybody happy. [Laughter]
COMEY: Year 15 for LeBron and he is still the king, the top of the game.
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Got some questions coming in on social media. [Applause] First one from JBS, 54JBS, “Was the book in the making for some time or was there some watershed moment where you concluded you must write it. If it’s the latter, what was the watershed moment? I look forward to reading the book.”
COMEY: Yeah, you may have heard, I was fired [Laughter] on May the 9th of last year. I was never gonna write a book. It always felt like an exercise in ego, and I’m sure a lot of my friends are going to mock me for turning around and writing a book. But I decided in the wake of my firing, it dawned on me over a few weeks, that I had something that I could be useful.Something bad had happened to me, remember the lessons I’ve learned from my wife. Is there something that I can make good out of this? I’d still rather be FBI director, but I have a chance to tell stories about things I’ve done wrong, problems I have, values I’ve learned, that may be useful to parents or to bosses or anybody who’s going to have a boss, about what leadership should look like.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Actually leads to the next question that came in on Twitter from TheRealDjango, “If offered, would you go back to being the Director of the FBI under another presidential administration?”
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Not a no, not a yes, but it is the last word. James Comey, thanks very much.
COMEY: Thanks, George.
