After the former FBI director James Comey likened President Trump to a mob boss in a TV interview, Republicans said Monday they would defend the president without fear of appearing to pile on the country's former top law enforcement official.
"If someone attacks you, you have a right to defend yourself," said Kayleigh McEnany, the Republican National Committee spokesperson. "So yes, we will defend the president who is being relentlessly attacked in a tell-all book."
Comey, who says he was fired last year after he refused to pledge his loyalty to the president, told ABC News's George Stephanopoulos in a interview broadcast Sunday that Trump is "morally unfit to be president." Comey was promoting his new book, "A Higher Loyalty," which was to be published Tuesday.
In the interview, Comey said his decision to alert Congress less than two weeks before the 2016 presidential election of additional emails under investigation by the FBI was influenced by his belief that Hillary Clinton would defeat Trump. In her own book published last year, Clinton said Comey's decision cost her the presidency.
Reactions to Comey's interview ー and the statements in his book ー have been split, largely along party lines.
"It was very sad," McEnany said in an interview on Cheddar. "What i saw was someone trying to rehabilitate his image."
In a [tweet](https://twitter.com/davidaxelrod/status/985543801660985344) Sunday night after the ABC broadcast, President Obama's former chief strategist David Axelrod said he questions the timing of Comey's book coming as it does at a critical phase in the special counsel'sinvestigation of the Trump campaign's possible dealings with Russia. "But I have no doubt about its brilliance when it comes to book sales," said Axelrod. "Maybe he should have called it Higher Royalties?
Advance sales have pushed "A Higher Loyalty" to the top of Amazon's Best Sellers list. The book's publisher, Macmillan Publishers' Flatiron Books, was printing 850,000 copies in anticipation of high demand, CNN reported.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-rnc-fires-back-after-james-comey-interview).
The Biden administration has stopped taking mobile app appointments to admit asylum-seekers at a Texas border crossing that connects to a notoriously dangerous Mexican city after advocates warned U.S. authorities that migrants were being targeted there for extortion.
Donald Trump arrived in Florida on Monday ahead of a history-making federal court appearance on dozens of felony charges accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents and thwarting the Justice Department's efforts to get them back.
The Supreme Court said Monday it won't review North Carolina's decision to stop issuing specialty license plates with the Confederate flag.
The Human Rights Campaign has declared a state of emergency for the lgbtq+ community. The unprecedented move comes after the passage of more than 75 anti-gay bills this year alone. Here with more is Cheddar News senior reporter Chloe Aiello.
President Joe Biden welcomed hundreds to the White House on Saturday for a delayed Pride Month celebration aimed at showing LGBTQ+ people that his administration has their back at a time when advocates are warning of a spike in discriminatory legislation, particularly aimed at the transgender community, sweeping through statehouses.
Silvio Berlusconi, the boastful billionaire media mogul who was Italy’s longest-serving premier despite scandals over his sex-fueled parties and allegations of corruption, died Monday. He was 86.
“Any consumer can tell you that online airline bookings are confusing enough," said William McGee, an aviation expert at the American Economic Liberties Project. "The last thing we need is to roll back an existing protection that provides effective transparency.”
Cheddar News checks in to see what to look out for Next Week on the Street as former president Donald Trump makes an appearance in federal court after being indicted. Investors will also keep an eye on the Federal Reserve meeting to see what comes out of that while earnings continue to pour in.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced Thursday that the U.S. is investing more than $100 million in the Caribbean region to crack down on weapons trafficking, help alleviate Haiti’s humanitarian crisis and support climate change initiatives.
It is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
