Shortly after the new boss started, he insisted that his employee come to a private dinner. At that dinner, the boss pressed the employee with uncomfortable questions; questions that continued even after he was asked to stop. The boss made it clear that he wanted a personal relationship. When the employee shied away from making that commitment, the boss pressed harder. The whole thing was so unsettling, that when the dinner was over the employee went home and made notes about what had happened. The employee also sought out a friend and talked over the discomfort of the situation. Even afterwards, the boss pressed for a commitment the employee didn’t want to give. The employee was increasingly uncomfortable about being alone with the boss, and had to get more open in rejecting the boss’ aggression.
If that scenario could describe any number of male bosses taking advantage of a position of power to pressure a female employee—it also appears to be the nature of the relationship between Donald Trump and former FBI director James Comey. Comey’s friend, Lawfare blog editor Benjamin Wittes, says that Comey tried to make it clear that he needed distance from the White House, but Trump wouldn’t leave him alone.
Mr. Wittes said Mr. Comey told him that despite Mr. Trump’s attempts to build a personal relationship, he did not want to be friendly with the president and thought any conversation with him or personal contact was inappropriate.
The account underlines that Trump only knows how to relate to people in one way—overwhelming and inappropriate. Trump’s interaction with Comey is filled with instances, large and small, in which ‘the new boss’ casually mistreated him employee in a way far too many people would recognize.
“Comey said that as he was walking across the room he was determined that there wasn’t going to be a hug,” Mr. Wittes said. “It was bad enough there was going to be a handshake. And Comey has long arms so Comey said he pre-emptively reached out for a handshake and grabbed the president’s hand. But Trump pulled him into an embrace and Comey didn’t reciprocate. If you look at the video, it’s one person shaking hands and another hugging.”
The pressure that Trump laid on Comey included attempting to get him to spill information inappropriately …
President Trump called the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, weeks after he took office and asked him when federal authorities were going to put out word that Mr. Trump was not personally under investigation, according to two people briefed on the call.
Isolating Comey in a private space and trying to push him into a personal commitment …
Those interactions included a dinner in which associates of Mr. Comey say Mr. Trump asked him to pledge his loyalty ...
Using others to help with the squeeze …
The day after the Flynn conversation, Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, asked Mr. Comey to help push back on reports in the news media that Mr. Trump’s associates had been in contact with Russian intelligence officials during the campaign.
Every instance of interaction between Donald Trump and James Comey reads like the kind of situation encountered when looking at a business course in situational ethics — as the example of a very, very bad boss. Trump used his position to try and extract favors. He pressed his employee in ways designed to make Comey violate his own personal ethics. Trump did everything from chasing Comey down with minions to violating his personal space to make it clear who was in charge.
Trump might very well have recited the same list of actions to Billy Bush in describing how he “moved on someone very heavily.”
The media has been casting Comey’s note taking in one of two ways—either the FBI director was aware that Trump was engaging in obstruction of justice and Comey should have spoken up at the time, or Comey is a later-day J. Edgar Hoover, building his “files” for future use. But Wittes’ account shows another version of James Comey: An upset employee being pressured by his boss to take actions, both personal and professional, that went against his own ethical judgement.
It’s perhaps the most empathetic picture of Comey that we’ve seen. And reinforces everything we already knew the vileness of Donald Trump.