James Comey says his new book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” is aimed at clearing the air about his tenure leading the FBI, but it's also plainly intended on embarrassing President Trump. In his first media appearance to discuss the memoir, Comey spoke at length about rumors Trump watched prostitutes pee on each other in a Moscow hotel room.
While Comey acknowledges there’s nothing to validate the rumor, he nonetheless suggests it’s believable, even taking a shot at the Trumps' marriage.
The fired FBI director's book also includes a passage noting that his hands are bigger than President Trump’s, reviving the “small hands” attack Trump critics leveled against him during the campaign. Via the Washington Post:
The first time Comey met Trump was at the pre-inauguration intelligence briefing. Comey, who is 6 feet 8 inches tall, writes that the 6-foot-3 president-elect looked shorter than he did on television. "
His face appeared slightly orange," Comey writes, "with bright white half-moons under his eyes where I assumed he placed small tanning goggles, and impressively coifed, bright blond hair, which upon close inspection looked to be all his."
"As he extended his hand," Comey adds, "I made a mental note to check its size. It was smaller than mine, but did not seem unusually so."
In Comey's interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, the former FBI director described telling Trump about the contents of the Steele dossier: "I started telling him about the allegation was that he had been involved with prostitutes in a hotel in Moscow in 2013 during a visit for the Miss Universe pageant and that the Russians had filmed the episode and he interrupted very defensively and started talking about, 'Do I look like a guy who needs hookers?’ And I — since he was asking that rhetorically I didn’t answer and I just moved on and explained, ‘Sir, I’m not saying that we credit this, I’m not saying we believe it. We just thought it very important you know.’”
Comey then relays a meeting where Trump said he wanted the "pee tape" rumor to die.
"He says he may want me to investigate it to prove that it didn’t happen and then he says something that distracted me, because he said, ‘If there’s even a 1 percent chance my wife thinks that’s true, that’s terrible.’" Comey said. "And I remember thinking, ‘How could your wife think there’s a 1 percent chance you were with prostitutes peeing at each other in Moscow? I’m a flawed human being, but there’s literally zero chance my wife would think that was true."
Comey then takes a direct shot at Trump's marriage, telling Stephanopoulos: "So what kind of marriage to what kind of man does your wife think there’s only a 99 percent chance you didn’t do that?’ And I said to him when he started talking about, ‘I may order you to investigate that,’ I said, ‘Sir, that’s up to you, but you want to be careful about that because it might create a narrative that we’re investigating you personally. And second, it’s very difficult to prove something didn’t happen."
Here's a transcript of the exchange:
COMEY: “I’m about to meet with a person who doesn’t know me, he’s just been elected president of the United States. By all accounts and from my watching him during the campaign, it could be volatile, and I’m about to talk to him about allegations that he was involved with prostitutes in Moscow and that the Russians taped it and have leverage over him.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “Was there any choice there? Why, if this was salacious and this particular part of the dossier unverified — still unverified, by the way?”
COMEY: “Yes, so far — when I got fired it was unverified.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “Did you tell him the Steele dossier had been financed by his political opponents?”
COMEY: “No, I don’t think I used the term Steele dossier. I just talked about additional material.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “But did he have a right to know that?”
COMEY: “That it had been financed by his political opponents? I don’t know the answer to that. It wasn’t necessary for my goal, which was to alert him that we had this information.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “How graphic did you get?”
COMEY: “I think as graphic as I needed to be. I started telling him about the allegation was that he had been involved with prostitutes in a hotel in Moscow in 2013 during a visit for the Miss Universe pageant and that the Russians had filmed the episode and he interrupted very defensively and started talking about, 'Do I look like a guy who needs hookers?’ And I — since he was asking that rhetorically I didn’t answer and I just moved on and explained, ‘Sir, I’m not saying that we credit this, I’m not saying we believe it. We just thought it very important you know.’”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “Did you tell him you thought it wasn’t true or you didn’t know if it was true or not?”
COMEY: “I never said I don’t believe it because I couldn’t say one way or another.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “How weird was that briefing?”
COMEY: “Really weird. It was almost an out-of-body experience for me. I was floating above myself looking down saying, ‘You’re sitting here briefing the incoming president of the United States about prostitutes in Moscow.’”
STEPHANOPOULOS (voice-over): “January 27th, at a private dinner in the White House, President Trump raises the issue again.”
COMEY: “He says he may want me to investigate it to prove that it didn’t happen and then he says something that distracted me, because he said, ‘If there’s even a 1 percent chance my wife thinks that’s true, that’s terrible.’ And I remember thinking, ‘How could your wife think there’s a 1 percent chance you were with prostitutes peeing at each other in Moscow? I’m a flawed human being, but there’s literally zero chance my wife would think that was true. So what kind of marriage to what kind of man does your wife think there’s only a 99 percent chance you didn’t do that?’ And I said to him when he started talking about, ‘I may order you to investigate that,’ I said, ‘Sir, that’s up to you, but you want to be careful about that because it might create a narrative that we’re investigating you personally. And second, it’s very difficult to prove something didn’t happen.’”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “Did you believe his denial?”
COMEY: “Honestly never thought these 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. It’s possible, but I don’t know.”
[clip ends]
STEPHANOPOULOS: “I got to say that took my breath away.”
ROBERTS: “I would imagine so.”