Politics

Comey Claims There Are ‘No Leaks’ Coming From Mueller Investigation

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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Former FBI Director James Comey took his book promotion tour to Toronto Thursday and told the crowd that Robert Mueller isn’t leaking any information so Comey can’t assess the special counsel’s investigation.

“I can’t rely on anything I see in the media because there are no leaks coming out of Robert Mueller’s operation, so I don’t know what he knows,” Comey said.

But as the Canadian Press reports, Comey thinks highly of Meuller’s group of lawyers. “I really don’t know what he has. What I do know is that he and his team are an all-star team of pros.”

Comey trotted out his frequently-used description of President Donald Trump being similar to a Mafia don.

“Ethical leadership is about having external reference points. Near as I can tell, this president only has one reference point and it is internal,” Comey told host Heather Reisman. “That’s very similar to a Cosa Nostra boss.”

Comey, who is no stranger to leaking information to the media, lamented what he described as declining ethical standards in U.S. politics.

The former FBI boss also brought up his decision to re-examine the Hillary Clinton email scandal less than two weeks before the 2016 presidential election, saying anything less could have been “devastating” on many levels.

“The act of concealment would be devastating to the institutions of justice for a generation,” Comey said. “And, if she’s elected, devastating to her presidency.”

Comey told the audience that in the course of the Clinton email scandal, his assessment of her activity went from “extremely careless” to “really sloppy.”

Comey expressed surprise that Trump would demand loyalty from him in a private meeting.

“He knew what he was doing,” Comey said. “The first explicit request for loyalty surprised me. By the time he came back and asked for my loyalty again, there’s no doubt he knew it was a violation of norms.”

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