Donald Trump cast as 'mafia boss' in James Comey book

Former FBI director James Comey's depiction of US President as a "mafia boss" in book excerpts published Friday quickly prompted a Trump tirade via social media.

In an early morning two-part Tweet, Trump wrote of Comey:"He is a weak and untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI.

"It was my great honor to fire James Comey," wrote Trump, adding that Comey should be prosecuted for leaking classified information.

Comey, in his book due out next week, depicts US President Donald Trump as a "mafia boss," who exists in "a cocoon of alternative reality," according to excerpts quoted by US media.

"His leadership is transactional, ego driven and about personal loyalty," Comey writes in the book, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership."

Trump fired Comey in May 2017 while he was investigating possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Soon afterwards, Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel to probe allegations of Moscow meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

That investigation has since expanded to examine whether the president obstructed justice by dismissing Comey.

Read more: What you need to know about the five inquiries looking into Donald Trump, James Comey and Russia

What did Comey write in the book?

Excerpts from the book obtained by the Washington Post list damning indictments of the Trump presidency, including: 

• "Meetings with Trump gave me flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the Mob."
• "The silent circle of assent. The boss in complete control. The loyalty oaths. The us-versus-them worldview. The lying about all things, large and small, in service to some code of loyalty that put the organization above morality and above the truth."
• "Donald Trump's presidency threatens much of what is good in this nation."  
• "This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values."

The ex-FBI chief said Trump did not know the difference between right and wrong and tried to blur the line between law enforcement and politics by attempting to personally pressure him to drop an investigation into Russian election interference. 

The book claims Trump was obsessed with trying to discredit rumors that he insisted were untrue but could distress his wife, Melania — in particular a video that allegedly showed Trump and Russian prostitutes urinating on a bed in a Moscow hotel. Trump reportedly raised the subject with Comey at least four times: He "strongly denied the allegations, asking — rhetorically, I assumed — whether he seemed like a guy who needed the service of prostitutes," Comey said.

"I'm a germaphobe," Trump reportedly said. "There's no way I would let people pee on each other around me. No way."

Comey also describes Trump as shorter than he expected with a "too long" tie and "bright white half-moons" under his eyes that he suggests came from tanning goggles.

The former FBI director also writes that then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly — now Trump's chief of staff — offered to quit out of disgust at how Comey was dismissed.

Read more: Why the question of how James Comey understood Donald Trump is so crucial

ipj,nm/ng (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)

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