Former FBI Director James Comey exchanged barbs with President Donald Trump on Saturday, responding to the president's latest broadside by promising to reveal his take on Trump's ongoing struggle with the FBI bureaucracy "very soon."
In the wake of Attorney General Jeff Sessions' firing of former FBI official Andrew McCabe, Comey's name has been invoked by Trump and others, and his role in the affair has come under renewed scrutiny.
On Saturday, the president launched a new broadside against Comey, calling him "sanctimonious" even as he applauded McCabe's firing. Trump stated the former FBI chief was aware of the underlying circumstances that forced McCabe's axing, and implied he had a hand in the affair.
Comey, who since his dismissal last year is wont to using social media to take cryptic and subliminal digs at his former boss, issued an uncharacteristically blunt response of his own. In the process, he took aim at the president's integrity, and vowed the public would hear his response "very soon."
The former FBI chief is working on a book, expected to be published next month, that is shrouded in secrecy. Since departing the bureau, Comey has been circumspect in his public remarks about his brief tenure under Trump, but reportedly kept detailed notes about his interactions with the president.
Last year, Trump hinted that there might be recordings of his conversations with his erstwhile FBI Director — prompting Comey's now famous response to a Senate hearing: "Lordy, I hope there are tapes."
Both Comey and McCabe shared at least one thing in common: Both reportedly kept detailed notes on their conversations with Trump. A report in The Wall Street Journal noted that McCabe passed his notes along to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is in the thick of an investigation into Russia's attempts to influence the general election.