Jane Zhang, '21

Although the ex Director of FBI James Comey was fired by President Trump last May, he did not fade into anonymity as he is currently in the media’s spotlight, waiting to be featured in a wide-ranging ABC news interview that is scheduled to air this Sunday at 10pm, EST about his groundbreaking memoir, “A Higher Loyalty”--aimed to shed light on the corruption behind Trump’s presidency and to attack his character or more precisely, the lack thereof.

Comey’s termination has in some way freed him. Since his dismissal, he started tweeting under his own name, sharing quotes about leadership, and releasing statements to the Senate Intelligence Committee that chronicles his relationship and private conversations with President Trump, who according to Comey, was pressuring him into swearing loyalty to the President above the truth and hinting at him to halt any further investigation of Russia’s involvement to his campaign, something that perturbed Comey greatly that he started keeping unclassified memos of their conversation.

James Comey has decided to make an even bolder move to illuminate the chaos and depravity of the West Wing by penning a highly controversial memoir with incendiary diction, in which he compares Trump to a mafia boss, describes him as “unethical” and “untethered to the truth and institutional values” and exposes several instances of Trump attempting to divert Comey’s and the media’s attention away from allegations of him watching Russian prostitutes urinate on each other in 2013, painting himself as guiltier than ever. It is undeniable that Comey’s soon-to-be-released book will have irremediable damage on President Trump’s image, which is already tainted with accusations from multiple parties, including Stormy Daniels and other women who claimed to be victims of sexual misconduct by Trump.

In response, President Trump unsurprisingly has launched a series of personal attack on Comey through Twitter, lambasting him as a “slippery slimeball” and dubbing him the “WORST FBI director in history by far”. The exchange of insults and rebuttals between the two opposing parties are not doing the President any favor. Amidst multiple investigations and legal battles, the President is under siege and find himself highly distracted and consumed with the thoughts of “character assassination” even when dealing with crucial foreign policy matters. According to officials, during deliberation of the order of punitive strikes against Syria, Trump was phoning his personal attorney Michael Cohen to check in and brainstorming tweets that will undermine Comey’s credibility. Desperate situations call for desperate measures, and so far President Trump has shown nothing but desperation in his attempt to redeem his reputation, even at the expense of putting his presidential duties on hold. If Trump wants to win back the people’s loyalty, he must maintain his composure and not let the temporary scandals cloud his judgment.

Sources:https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/us/politics/james-comey-interview.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/15/politics/trump-tweets-comey/index.html https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/07/james-comey-trump-congress-statement https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/13/politics/comey-book-trump/index.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/us/politics/comey-interview-trump.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fpolitics&action=click&contentCollection=politics&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront