The Memo: Comey suggests Trump can’t be trusted with classified info

James Comey says he would “potentially” withhold information from President Trump if he were still serving as FBI director, because he would fear the president leaking the details and damaging U.S. national security.

The comments come in Comey’s first British television interview since the publication of his book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership.”

The interview, with the BBC’s “Newsnight,” will be broadcast on Thursday evening in the United Kingdom. The Hill obtained an audio version of the interview in advance of its broadcast. {mosads}

Referring to the idea of holding information back from Trump, Comey said, “You’d have to think about it [with Trump] in a way you probably wouldn’t have to with other presidents.”

His remarks will raise the hackles of his critics, who often accuse him of overstepping boundaries. The comments will also exacerbate the fears of Trump detractors, who assert that the president’s impulsive behavior poses security risks. 

Comey also noted that “you’d have to be very careful” about keeping information back “because you have an obligation under our Constitution and the structure of our government to make sure the president has the information the president needs.”  

Elsewhere in the interview with BBC anchor Emily Maitlis, Comey argues that even if special counsel Robert Mueller were removed from his role, the investigations into Trump and his circle would continue. 

“You would have to literally fire everyone in the Justice Department and the FBI to stop an investigation,” Comey says. “Even if Mueller were fired, [and] that would be a terrible thing, the next will pick it up, the next will pick it up, the next will pick it up.” 

Those comments are relevant as speculation swirls that Trump could move against Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the probe. 

That speculation snowballed after raids on the home and office of Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, last week. But Bloomberg Politics reported Thursday that Rosenstein had last week told Trump that he is not a target of any part of Mueller’s investigation, an assurance that apparently placated the president. 

Comey makes some of his harshest personal comments to date about the president’s integrity in the BBC interview.

Comey said what he sees as Trump’s mendacity “stains any human,” making the people around the president complicit in deception. 

“He has a habit of … telling lies — sometime big, sometimes casual — and then insisting that the people around him repeat them and believe them,” Comey said. 

Comey has been undertaking a promotional blitz for his book. His first major TV interview, with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, was watched by 9.8 million people on Sunday. 

Comey’s turn in the spotlight appears to have enraged the president, who fired him as FBI director in May — a move that resulted in the appointment of Mueller. 

Trump has taken to Twitter to deride Comey as a “slime ball,” “slippery” and “the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!”

In his BBC interview Thursday, Comey insisted he did not dislike Trump personally.  

“Dislike him? No, not as a person. I actually feel sorry for him as a person,” he said. 

Comey has also come in for criticism for the personal nature of some comments.  

In his book and in interviews, he has made seemingly disparaging remarks about Trump’s hair and complexion — suggesting, for example, that he has white half-moons beneath his eyes because of wearing tanning goggles.

Questioned have been raised about whether those are appropriate comments from someone whose book is about ethical leadership.

Comey told Maitlis on Thursday that he had not intended to belittle the president.

“It isn’t about picking on him. It’s about describing a scene,” he said. 

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage, primarily focused on Donald Trump’s presidency.