Former F.B.I. Director James Comey believes U.S. President Donald Trump should be voted out of office.
Comey was fired last year by U.S. President Trump, and says Trump is not morally fit for the presidency.
American Values
“Our president must embody respect and adhere to the values that are at the core of this country,” said Comey in a George Stephanopoulos interview on ABC. The interview aired Sunday night. “The most important being truth. This president is not able to do that,” added Comey.
Stephanopoulos asked Comey if he thought the president should be impeached. To that, Comey replied that it was important for American citizens to “fight” for their values and that “impeachment, in a way, would short-circuit that.” This ways Comey’s first major news interview after having left his post at the head of the F.B.I. last year.
Comey’s Book
The interview occurred just ahead of Comey’s new book release: “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership.”
Stephanopoulos pointed out that in the book, Comey said Trump was “unethical, untethered to the truth,” then proceeded to directly ask “Is Donald Trump unfit to be president?”
To that, Comey answered “Yes,” adding “But not in the way I often hear people talk about it. I don’t buy this stuff about him being mentally incompetent or early stages of dementia. He strikes me as a person of above-average intelligence who’s tracking conversations and knows what’s going on.”
Comey was careful to specify that “I don’t think he’s medically unfit to be president. I think he’s morally unfit to be president.” Instead, he referred to Trump’s response when the Charlottesville, Virginia white nationalist riots had occurred. Comey also pointed to the way the president treats women. He also underscored what he referred to as a tendency to lie “constantly about matters big and small.”
“Something More Important”
Comey explained that he thought that there is one primary concept that should bring the entire country into unity. “Our president must embody respect and adhere to the values that are at the core of this country,” said Comey. “The most important being truth. This president is not able to do that. He is morally unfit to be president.”