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Trump blasts Comey, says 'liar & leaker' should be prosecuted

These two AFP file photos show then FBI Director James Comey (L) in Washington, DC, on March 20, 2017; and US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on June 6, 2017.

US President Donald Trump has denounced former FBI Director James Comey as a “liar & leaker” who “should be prosecuted” after he called the president unethical and “untethered to truth” in a sharply critical new book. 

Trump on Friday accused Comey of leaking classified information and lying to the US Congress “under OATH” about it.

 “James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired,” Trump wrote.

In a follow-up tweet, Trump called the former FBI director a “weak and untruthful slime ball” and saying it was "my great honor to fire James Comey!"

Trump appears to be referring to reports that memos Comey wrote about his conversations with Trump contained classified information. Comey shared one of the memos with a friend to leak it to the media.

According to one document that has summarized a meeting in the Oval Office on May 10, 2017—the day after Trump fired Comey—the president told Russian diplomats that he was under "great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off,” The New York Times reported.

“I just fired the head of the FBI,” Trump said. “He was crazy, a real nut job.”

The document that contained Trump’s comments during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov along with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, was read to the Times by an American official, who had asked to remain unnamed.

It was based on notes taken from inside the Oval Office and has been circulated as the official account of the meeting.

'Trump's kakistocracy is collapsing'

Former CIA Director John Brennan

Meanwhile, former CIA Director John Brennan censured Trump for his attacks on Comey, saying that Trump’s “kakistocracy is collapsing after its lamentable journey.”

“As the greatest Nation history has known, we have the opportunity to emerge from this nightmare stronger & more committed to ensuring a better life for all Americans, including those you have so tragically deceived,” Brennan tweeted at Trump.

A kakistocracy is a form of government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.

Last month, Brennan expressed “deep worry and concern” about America’s leadership and national security, because Trump is "unstable, inept, inexperienced, and also unethical."

Brennan said in an interview he believed Trump was "ill-prepared" to discharge the duties of commander-in-chief, particularly on international issues.

"It is no secret to anybody that Donald Trump was very ill prepared and inexperienced in terms of dealing with matters that a head of state needs to deal with, head of government, and I think this is now coming to roost," he said.

Comey, who had been leading an investigation into alleged ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia, was fired in May last year.

 Trump's comments on Friday are his first response to excerpts from Comey's new book, "A Higher Loyalty," which were released on Thursday evening.

“This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values," Comey writes. "His leadership is transactional, ego driven and about personal loyalty."

“Donald Trump’s presidency threatens much of what is good in this nation,” Comey writes, calling the administration a “forest fire” that can’t be contained by ethical leaders within the government.


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