Politics

President Trump calls ex-FBI Director James Comey an 'untruthful slime ball' who 'should be prosecuted'

Key Points
  • President Trump vents his rage at former FBI Director James Comey in a pair of Friday morning tweets, calling him an "untruthful slime ball" who "should be prosecuted."
  • The president's latest attack on Comey come as details from the former law enforcement leader's soon-to-be released memoir emerged in the media.
  • In the book, Comey describes Trump as being "untethered to the truth" and likens him to a mob boss and a bully.
President Trump calls James Comey an 'untruthful slime ball'
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President Trump calls James Comey an 'untruthful slime ball'

President Donald Trump vented his rage at former FBI Director James Comey in a pair of tweets Friday, calling him an "untruthful slime ball" who "should be prosecuted."

TRUMP TWEET 1

TRUMP TWEET 2

The Trump administration has previously suggested that Comey could have violated the law in leaking a document, but fact checkers suggest that the circumstances are not so clear.

The president's latest attack on Comey came as details from the former law enforcement leader's new memoir emerged in the media. The book, "A Higher Loyalty," is due out Tuesday. It includes Comey's version of his encounters with Trump, first when the real estate magnate was president-elect and then after he became president.

Talks between Trump-Mueller teams break down, NBC reports
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Talks between Trump-Mueller teams break down, NBC reports

In the book, Comey describes Trump as being "untethered to the truth" and likens him to a mob boss and a bully.

Comey also writes that Trump continued to ask him about unverified, salacious allegations that there was tape of him watching prostitutes urinate on each other in a Moscow hotel room in 2013. The former FBI director said Trump denied the lurid tale, but said he might order the FBI to investigate the claims.

In an interview with ABC News, Comey said he didn't know whether he believes Trump's denials. A snippet aired Friday morning, and a longer version of the interview is slated to be broadcast 10 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Trump fired Comey last May, four months after the Justice Department veteran first briefed him on the allegations about the prostitutes. The president told NBC News' Lester Holt that he had been thinking about the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election when he decided to fire Comey.

Weeks later, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller, Comey's predecessor at the FBI, to take over the Russia probe as special counsel. Mueller is reportedly investigating Trump for obstruction of justice and possible collusion with the Russians.

Trump has repeatedly denied accusations of collusion and obstruction.