A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership - James Comey (Notes)

 

In the author’s note, Comey states that loyalty is indispensable in his line of work in law enforcement, but this loyalty is to truth itself, not to any party or person, no matter his own personal political leanings. Only the evidence after thorough investigation matters.

Comey tells the story of his life and career path. He was the U.S. deputy attorney general during the administration of George W. Bush, then appointed as the director of the FBI by Barack Obama in 2013, and fired by Donald Trump in 2017.

He paints different pictures of each of these presidents’ personalities, leadership styles, ways of going about business, and the climate surrounding them in the White House. Bush, for instance, could be blunt, impatient, start meetings early, and had a devilish sense of humor. Though his humor had a mean streak, it was essential to relieve tension in meetings. One minute they are talking about terrorism, the next minute the room is erupting in laughter.

Comey addressed the illegal overreach of the NSA and the use of torture in the Bush administration. The Bush administration operated in a culture where uncertainty was intolerable and doubt was derided as weakness. There was pressure to be certain. In politics, admitting doubt and mistakes is career suicide. It was difficult for Comey persuade them, no matter how much evidence was presented, that some of what they were doing was illegal.

When Obama nominated Comey to be director of the FBI in 2013, he met with him in the Oval Office for an informal conversation, telling him this was the last time they could speak this way because the FBI and president needed to be at arm’s length, working independently, and needed to go through professional, established protocols to interact with one another. In other words, they couldn’t be personal friends. This protects both the president and the FBI. Obama stated his confidence in him to do his job well.

Comey describes Obama as intelligent, composed, open-minded, someone who asked questions, looked at things from multiple angles, and took his time deliberating. He was both confident and humble, which is difficult to balance. He also described how Obama and Biden worked together, though having completely different personalities and divergent ideas about which direction to take things.

As Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump competed for the presidency in 2016, Comey had two important issues on his plate to investigate—evidence that Putin had directed Russian operatives to interfere with the election in favor of a Trump victory, mainly through use of misinformation on social media, and whether Hillary Clinton broke any laws sharing classified information over emails sent on an unsecured, unofficial server.

The evidence that Putin interfered with the election was certain, but it was concluded that Clinton had broken no laws, she was just sloppy and careless. Comey was disappointed that Obama, in an interview with 60 Minutes, declared Hillary’s innocence before the investigation was over. This would make the investigation look partisan.

Comey announced to America that the case was closed and Hillary was innocent of criminal behavior. Right wing media, upset that there was no conviction, tried to spin the investigation as partisan and unjust, undermining confidence in the FBI. Comey assured readers that the personal politics of FBI members never get in the way of investigation. They follow strict protocol, work as a team, compare the evidence to the law, then make their conclusions.

Congressman Anthony Weiner was under investigation for sending nude photos to underage girls, and while examining his laptop, the FBI found a file of Hillary’s emails—tens of thousands more than were submitted for the investigation. They got a warrant to open the file and look through them, but with more than 100,000 of them and only two weeks before election day, there is no way they could read them all in time, as it took people specially trained in what to look for as they read them.

The dilemma put before Comey was whether or not to reveal that the investigation into Hillary Clinton was reopened or to conceal it until after the election. If he reveals this, it could have an impact on the election. If he doesn’t, the media will report it anyway and it will look like he’s hiding something, undermining America’s confidence in the FBI.

After talking it over with many people and knowing that no matter which option he picked it was going to look bad, he decided to reveal to the American people that the investigation of Hillary’s emails had been reopened. His job was to care about the integrity of the FBI, not whether or not this influenced an election, and looking at the polls, no one seriously thought Trump would win anyway.

For this, Comey was excoriated, treated coldly, and even hated by Hillary and many surrounding him in meetings at the White House. People refused to make eye contact, talk to him, or acknowledge his presence. He felt like a ghost. Still, many were sympathetic to how tough that decision was and reached out to him with sympathy and support.

After Trump won the election, Obama, though he tirelessly campaigned for Hillary and wanted badly for her to win, told Comey he nominated him because he believed he was a man of integrity who would do the right thing, and that nothing that happened in the past year changed his perspective on this.

Comey notes that he didn’t vote for Obama, he didn’t vote in 2016, and that his wife and kids voted for Hillary Clinton. Any insinuation that he saved Hillary Clinton from criminal activity or sabotaged her presidential bid and helped Trump in any way was deeply upsetting to him. He was just doing his job.

Trump now elected, the FBI had to brief him on Putin’s interference in the election, and Comey was asked to brief him one-on-one about the Steele Dossier, in which Russia claimed to have footage of Trump with prostitutes in a Russian hotel room in 2013 in which the prostitutes peed on each other on the bed, and that they planned to use the footage as blackmail.

When the FBI told Trump about Putin’s election interference, there were no follow up questions like how did they do it, how do we prevent it from happening again, and what steps should be taken against them. They only wanted to minimize the damage by insuring Americans that Putin had no influence on Trump’s victory. Comey was shocked that they were deliberating their spin right in front of them. “Intelligence does facts, the White House does politics and spin.”

Comey told Trump about the dossier and he immediately became defensive, denying the allegations, asking if he looked like the kind of guy who needed prostitutes. When Comey explained that he just wanted to protect the president from blackmail, that the FBI didn’t believe the allegations, and that he wasn’t under investigation, Trump calmed down.

Four days later, Buzzfeed released details from the dossier. Trump tweeted: FAKE NEWS—A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT! He called Comey the next day to tell him he didn’t stay overnight at the hotel, was only there to change his clothes, that he knew he was being recorded, and that he flew in and out the same night. Being a germaphobe, he assured Comey that he would never let anyone pee on a bed near him. Comey thought Trump needn’t stay overnight to be with prostitutes, and the suite was big enough that he needn’t be in the bed with the prostitutes when they peed on it, allegedly because the Obamas had once slept in that bed, but didn’t say any of this out loud.

Trump was convinced he had the biggest inauguration crowd ever—definitely bigger than Obama’s—when no amount of spinning the facts, pictures, and data could justify this. Nothing would change his mind. Comey would come to find that Trump lived in a world of his own making.

Trump arranged a private dinner for Comey in the Green Room at the White House, which was strange, because there was protocol for setting up these meetings through proper channels, and he never attended these meetings alone. These meetings needed to be recorded as official meetings and the contents of the meetings disclosed to his team. He told Trump there needed to be a separation between the FBI and the president for both of their good, and previous presidents understood this.

After praising Comey for doing a great job, noting that everyone spoke of him in high regard, and hoping he would stay on as FBI director, he let him know that others wanted his job. Comey assured him that he had no desire to quit the job he loved and could be relied on to always tell the truth. “I need loyalty. I expect loyalty,” Trump said. Comey didn’t respond. They stared each other in the eyes for a few seconds and moved on.

In a long stream of consciousness monologue, Trump went on about his sexual assault allegations, Hillary’ emails, his inauguration crowd size, that he didn’t mock a disabled reporter, the luxury of living in the White House, and the viciousness of the campaign. He never left room for response or feedback, so believed everyone simply agreed with him. This wasn’t the proper way for a leader to rapport with a subordinate. He simply didn’t know the protocol of past presidents, why they couldn’t be on chummy terms, and how scandalous it was to meet alone with an FBI director and ask for loyalty, starting with putting his job security on the table.

Trump said Chief of Staff Reince Priebus didn’t know they were meeting, which seemed incredible to Comey, then later in the conversation said he did know. Why lie about it? Trump then asked Comey to investigate the golden showers claim to prove it didn’t happen. Comey explained that it is very difficult to prove that something didn’t happen, and the American public would interpret that as an investigation on him, which wouldn’t look good.

Trump again asked for loyalty. Comey said he would get honesty. “That’s what I want, honest loyalty,” Trump said, as if a bargain had been struck. “You will get that from me,” Comey said, uncomfortable and desperate to end the conversation.

Comey notes that someone so experienced in business and leadership should know that ethical leaders never ask for personal loyalty. They care about how they lead, have a confidence that breeds humility, and are open to feedback and being wrong. They understand that they need to trust others to tell them the truth so they can make effective decisions.

Comey made it a practice to keep notes on his personal meetings with Trump because he didn’t trust Trump to recollect their meetings accurately and worried that he might use them against him one day. After every personal meeting with Trump, Comey met with his team and debriefed, wrote a memo of the contents of their conversation, and left one copy with the FBI and another in a safe at home.

Reince Priebus invited Comey to the White House for a 20-minute meeting to learn more about the protocol between intelligence and the White House, and after explaining to him that a distance must be kept between the president and him for both of their good and that they should only meet formally and through the correct protocols, Priebus asked if he would like to see the president. “I’m sure he’d love to see you!” Comey refused twice, wondering if Priebus had heard anything he’d just said in their meeting, but he insisted, taking him to the Oval Office.

In that meeting, Trump went into another stream of consciousness rant in which he spoke but never left space for others in the room to respond. Bill O’Reilly had just asked Trump in a pre-Super Bowl interview why he respected Putin, a man who kills his own citizens and others, and why he wouldn’t outright condemn him. Trump said he respected Putin, even if he might not get along with him. O’Reilly stated again that he was a killer. Trump responded, “There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country is so innocent?”

This became a lighting rod of criticism across the aisles. Trump thought he gave a good answer to a tough question, but Comey, for the first time, spoke up and told Trump his first answer was good, but not the second one. “We aren’t the kind of killers that Putin is.” Trump abruptly ended the meeting, not used to being challenged, and Comey knew from then on that they wouldn’t have a friendly rapport, which he thought a good thing.

“Still, the encounter left me shaken. I’d never seen anything like it in the Oval Office. As I found myself thrust into Trump’s orbit, I was once again having flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the Mob. The silent circle of assent. The boss in complete control. The loyalty oaths. The us-versus-them worldview. The lying about all things, large and small, in service to some code of loyalty that put the organization above morality and above the truth.” (251)

After the next intelligence briefing at the White House, Trump asked everyone to leave the room but Comey when the meeting ended. He wanted to crack down on those leaking classified information to reporters and explained that he had to fire Michael Flynn for misleading the Vice President Mike Pence. Flynn was under FBI investigation for colluding with a Russian ambassador, which he lied about when interviewed by FBI agents. Trump said Flynn was a good guy and asked him to “let this go.” In other words, to do him a favor and stop the investigation. Comey again wrote a memo of the meeting and shared it with his team in case Trump would later try to deny the conversation ever happened. He asked AG Jeff Sessions to make sure he was never alone with Trump again, but he couldn’t insure that.

Trump called Comey, wondering if perhaps FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe had something against him because he was hard on his wife Jill, who ran for Virginia state legislature in 2015 and lost. Trump believed, falsely, that Hillary Clinton had given money to Jill, so the FBI was soft on Hillary in return. Comey assured Trump that most FBI agents lean right, Andrew was a Republican, and he was a professional who could put all personal matters aside to do his job well.

Trump said the Russia investigation was a cloud over him, keeping him from doing his job well, and it was hurting Melania. What could he do to lift the cloud? Comey said the FBI was working as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Trump wanted the message to the American public to be clear that he wasn’t personally under investigation.

Two weeks later Trump called, irritated that the cloud of the investigation was still over him. Comey told him he reported his request to the acting deputy attorney general and had not heard back, so the White House councel should contact the leadership of the DOJ to make the request. Trump said he would do that, “Because I have been very loyal to you, very loyal. We had that thing, you know.” Comey assumed that by “that thing” he was referring to the private dinner in the green room at the White House.

On May 9, 2017, while in the middle of a speaking to an audience at a Diversity Agent Recruiting event in L.A., Comey stopped mid-speech when he saw on the TVs behind the audience various news stations with the words COMEY RESIGNS and COMEY FIRED. No one had notified him. He completed his speech, met with everyone and shook hands, then tried to find out what was happening.

He was blindsided when the memo on his firing said his conduct was awful and unacceptable. This made no sense, given his impeccable reputation and having received nothing but praise from the Trump team. He was unjustly defamed, as it was claimed that the FBI was in disarray and being poorly led, which wasn’t true. What Trump told those close to him was he fired Comey to relieve pressure on the Russia investigation. Many reached out to him to report their shock and dismay at how disrespectful and unjust this firing was after such a long and impeccable record.

Trump was furious, seeing footage on the news of Comey flying back from L.A. to Washington on an FBI plane. He called McCabe and asked that it be investigated. He wanted to know who authorized the use of the place for Comey. McCabe said he himself authorized it because the plane and staff needed to return to DC and that it was the FBI’s job to see to it that Comey return home safely. Trump exploded, saying Comey was never allowed back on FBI property ever again. He was not allowed to say goodbye to his team and coworkers. His stuff was shipped to him. Angry, Trump asked McCabe, “Your wife lost the election in Virginia, didn’t she?” “Yes, she did,” he replied. “Ask her how it feels to be a loser,” he said, and hung up.

On May 12, Trump tweeted that Comey had better hope there were no tapes of their conversations before he decided to start leaking to the press. Comey had no intention of going to the press, but realized if Trump did record their conversations, then also recorded was Trump in the Oval Office asking Comey in private to drop the Flynn investigation. This would be scandalous.

Comey decided to share unclassified information from his personal memos about his conversations with Trump in which he was asked to drop the FBI investigation of Flynn. This is freedom of speech and press, not “leaking” unclassified information as some pundits wrongly claimed. Comey just wanted to tell the truth.

Comey noted that lacking kindness, humility, empathy, and respect for truth, Trump can’t keep around him the kinds of people a president needs to speak truth to him. He is unethical and untethered to truth and institutional values. His leadership is transactional, ego-driven, and about personal loyalty.

He further notes that it is hypocritical and morally wrong for right wing pundits and evangelical faith leaders to look the other way and ignore this dangerous behavior because they find some of Trump’s policies and court appointments favorable. They would never let Obama or Clinton get away with this behavior. “What is happening now is not normal. It’s not fake news. It’s not okay.”

Every organization has its flaws, Comey notes, but it’s not okay to sit idly by and watch the president destroy norms and traditions and brazenly undermine confidence in law enforcement institutions meant to keep him in check. Thinking about what’s right for the country must come before political or personal loyalty.

Comey is optimistic that whatever damage Trump does will be temporary and pass, and hopefully this afford good conversation about our need to value truth, integrity, respect, tolerance, and ethical leadership.