The former FBI director James Comey attempted to position himself above party politics in his first public interview since President Trump fired him last year, and the anger Comey has engendered from Democrats and Republicans may indicate he succeeded.
"It helps his credibility in some sense that he's not positioning himself directly in alliance with one party or the other," said Jack Crowe, a reporter at the National Review. "No one in Washington is particularly happy with him."
In the ABC interview, Comey said Trump was "morally unfit to be president," angering Republicans perhaps as much as he upset Democrats when he told Congress 11 days before the 2016 presidential election that he was reopening part of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails. Clinton said in her 2017 book, "What Happened," that Comey's decision likely cost her the election.
Since Comey was fired in May 2017, he has emerged as a polarizing figure in Washington. His termination led to the appointment of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, to investigate whether the Trump campaign worked with agents of the Russian government. The investigation has ensnared individuals close to Trump, including his personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen.
During the ABC interview to promote his new memoir, Comey told Stephanopoulos that "it's possible" the Russian government has compromising information on Trump.
"It is stunning and I wish I wasn't saying it, but it's just-- it's the truth," Comey said.
Speaking on Cheddar's live broadcast on Monday, Crowe said that Comey's criticism of Trump didn't clearly "align himself with the democrats," but speculating that the Russian's may have dirt on the president "hurts Comey's credibility a bit."
Comey is scheduled to conduct a number of media interviews this week to promote his book, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership," to be published Tuesday by Flatiron Books.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/james-comey-tells-all).
The Department of Justice has informed former Vice President Mike Pence 's legal team that it will not pursue criminal charges related to the discovery of classified documents at his Indiana home.
Fending off a U.S. default, the Senate gave final approval late Thursday to a debt ceiling and budget cuts package, grinding into the night to wrap up work on the bipartisan deal and send it to President Joe Biden's desk to become law before the fast-approaching deadline.
He wasn't hurt and later joked that he "got sandbagged."
Canada will soon become the first country in the world where warning labels must appear on individual cigarettes.
Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday that federal agencies are taking new steps to stop racial discrimination in appraising home values by proposing a rule intended to ensure that the automated formulas used to price housing are fair.
Centrist Democrats and Republicans pushed it to approval over blowback from conservatives and some progressives. The Senate is expected to act quickly by the end of the week.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that two state laws banning abortion are unconstitutional, but the procedure remains illegal in the state in nearly all cases except life-threatening situations.
A New York City police officer is speaking out against the use of “courtesy cards” by friends and relatives of his colleagues on the force, accusing department leaders of maintaining a sprawling system of impunity that lets people with a connection to law enforcement avoid traffic tickets.
A Pennsylvania restaurant owner who screamed death threats directed at then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi while storming the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Tuesday to more than two years in prison.
Hard-fought to the end, the debt ceiling and budget cuts package is heading toward a crucial U.S. House vote as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy assemble a coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans to push it to passage over fierce blowback from conservatives and some progressive dissent.
