The new book by former FBI Director James Comey is circulating and it rehashes in vivid detail some familiar ground, including the fact that Donald Trump fixated on the lewd details of the Steele dossier and didn't have any idea that the real mission of the FBI is to protect the American people, not his own ego.
The book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership,” recalls the first time Comey briefed Trump on the dossier—part of a larger briefing in January 2017 on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The Washington Post writes:
Comey describes Trump as having been obsessed with the prostitutes portion of the infamous dossier compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, raising it at least four times with the FBI head. The document claimed that Trump had watched the prostitutes urinate on themselves in the same Moscow suite that President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama stayed in previously “as a way of soiling the bed,” Comey writes.
Trump offered varying explanations to convince Comey it was not true. “I’m a germaphobe,” Trump told him in a follow-up call on Jan. 11, 2017, according to Comey’s account. “There’s no way I would let people pee on each other around me. No way.” Later, the president asked what could be done to “lift the cloud” because it was so painful for first lady Melania Trump.
Trump takeaway: The FBI now works for me and surely their priority should be setting this right with Melania on my behalf—check.
The broader intelligence briefing about Russian meddling was attended by Trump, Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer.
Trump asked only one question, Comey writes: “You found there was no impact on the result, right?”
James R. Clapper Jr., then the director of national intelligence, replied that the intelligence community did no such analysis.
Comey recalls being struck that neither Trump nor his advisers asked about the future Russian threat, nor how the United States might prepare to meet it. Rather, he writes, they focused on “how they could spin what we’d just told them.”
Trump takeaway: No concern for the country or the integrity of our Democratic system—check.
A week after the Trump Tower meeting, on Jan. 11, Comey writes that Trump called him and said he was concerned about the dossier being made public and was fixated on the prostitutes allegation. The president-elect argued that it could not be true because he had not stayed overnight in Moscow but had only used the hotel room to change his clothes. And after Trump explained that he would never allow people to urinate near him, Comey recalls laughing. [...]
Comey writes that Trump told him to consider having the FBI investigate the prostitutes allegation to “prove it was a lie.”
It was one of about four times Trump revisited the topic with Comey.
Trump takeaway: Obsessed—check.
Here's a few other tidbits from the WashPo write up:
Comey describes Trump as a congenital liar and unethical leader, devoid of human emotion and driven by personal ego. [...]
Interacting with Trump, Comey writes, gave him “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.” [...]
He describes [Jeff Sessions] as “both overwhelmed and overmatched by the job.”
Oh, and chief of staff John Kelly isn't a man of his word. Comey recalls getting an "emotional" phone call from Kelly after Trump had fired Comey.
“He said he was sick about my firing and that he intended to quit in protest,” Comey writes. “He said he didn’t want to work for dishonorable people who would treat someone like me in such a manner. I urged Kelly not to do that, arguing that the country needed principled people around this president. Especially this president.”
Kelly did not resign. Two and a half months later, he was named White House chief of staff.
Go figure.