Former FBI Director James Comey says it would be a small victory if Hillary Clinton read his book and came away thinking he was an “honest idiot” instead of just a run-of-the-mill idiot.
The man who Mrs. Clinton has sometimes blamed for her 2016 election loss to President Trump wants “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership,” to be added to her reading list. Mr. Comey said for a promotional interview published Monday that his book elucidates his handling of the former secretary of state’s email server scandal.
“I even hope that Hillary Clinton at least reads those parts of the book, because I think she will walk away saying, ’You know what? I still think that guy is an idiot, but, you know, he’s kind of an honest idiot,” Mr. Comey told USA Today. “He’s trying to do the right thing here.’”
The 57-year-old buttressed his point about honesty by mentioning his family’s strong preference for Mrs. Clinton during election.
“She very much wanted a woman president; she very much wanted Hillary Clinton to be the first woman president,” Mr. Comey said of his wife, Patrice. “I don’t think they blamed me. They blamed circumstance.”
The former FBI director, speaking from his home in Virginia, also told USA Today that he couldn’t fathom why Mr. Trump was reluctant to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin in private conversations.
“At least in my experience, he won’t criticize Vladimir Putin even in private,” Mr. Comey said. “I can understand why a president … might not want to criticize publicly another leader … but privately? Sitting with the person in charge of countering the Russian threat in the United States? Privately not being willing to do that? That always struck me.”
Mr. Trump has publicly called Mr. Comey an “untruthful slime ball” for writing and promoting the book, which officially hits stores Tuesday.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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