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Donald Trump denounces James Comey as 'untruthful slime ball'

Trump fired back at James Comey in the wake of the former FBI director's book that likens the president to a dishonest mob boss.
Credit: Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump (C) shakes hands with James Comey, director of the FBI, during an Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on January 22, 2017 in Washington, DC.

Washington — President Trump fired back at James Comey on Friday, calling him "a proven LEAKER & LIAR" and a "untruthful slime ball" in the wake of the former FBI director's book that likens the president to a dishonest mob boss.

"Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired," Trump tweeted of Comey.

In fact, lawmakers from both parties criticized Comey's dismissal. It is the subject of an investigation into whether he sought to obstruct justice in the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Details of Comey's book are leaking out as he prepares for a full-scale media tour next week.

The former FBI director said Trump appeared to lean on him to go easy on former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who was indicted on charges of lying to the FBI about his post-election contact with a Russian ambassador.

Offering an overall assessment of Trump, Comey writes that "this president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values," according to news reports about the book. “His leadership is transactional, ego driven and about personal loyalty.”

In an interview broadcast Friday on ABC's Good Morning America, Comey said Trump also seemed obsessed with an unverified claim that during a trip to Moscow he watched two prostitutes engage in an unusual sexual act. Comey said Trump asked him to "prove that it didn't happen," and said it would be "terrible" if his wife Melania Trump believed the claim.

“I honestly never thought this words would come out of my mouth, but I don't know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013,” Comey told ABC. “It's possible, but I don't know.”

Comey's firing in May led to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel in charge of investigating possible links between Trump's campaign and Russians who sought to influence the 2016 election with email hacks and fake news. Mueller is also conducting the obstruction of justice investigation, including the circumstances behind Comey's firing.

With Comey's book to be published Tuesday, the Republican National Committee and Trump allies are lining up media appearances of their own in an attempt to discredit both the book and its author.

Speaking with reporters at the White House, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway said Comey "seems like a disgruntled ex-employee; after all, he was fired."

As Trump and Comey prepare to go at each other in coming, public opinion seems more with the ex-FBI director.

According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, Comey is seen as more believable than Trump, by a margin of 48%-32%.

In his morning tweets, Trump accused Comey of leaking classified intelligence and of mishandling the 2016 investigation of the private emails of former secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his election opponent.

"It was my great honor to fire James Comey," Trump tweeted.

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