2020-12-25
The former director of the FBI seeks a pound of revenge in a combined memoir and defense of the values of an independent Department of Justice。

Before heading the FBI， Comey was a U。S。 attorney， a defense attorney in private practice， and a federal prosecutor。 Much of this book， a fairly unremarkable follow-up to A Higher Loyalty （2018）， centers on the juicier cases he pursued。 In pre–9/11 New York， he took a special interest in the Mafia， going after members of the Gambino family。 Of Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano， Comey writes， “The guy may have killed nineteen people and devoted his life to a savage criminal organization， but…Gravano’s guilty plea and cooperation meant the feds were finally going to get [John] Gotti。” The cops-and-robbers stuff is all well and good， but the meat of the book concerns more recent matters。 Comey has nothing good to say about Donald Trump， who demanded his fealty and， when not granted it， fired him。 Trump， writes the author， “lied more often and about more things than any leader in our history， but he and his followers also did something profoundly dangerous: they attacked the idea that truth exists。” Comey spares no scorn for William Barr （“How could an accomplished lawyer start channeling the president in using words like ‘no collusion’ and FBI ‘spying’？”）， assails Robert Mueller for a too-long， too-vague report on Trump’s Russian collusion that “left his work susceptible to cynical distortion，” and defends his choice to reveal the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails that helped land Trump the White House: “Even in hindsight，” he writes wanly， “I believe it was the best thing for the FBI and for the Department of Justice”—institutions that， he concludes， must be rebuilt and kept free of political interference。

A middling political memoir that may appeal to die-hard anti-Trumpers。

James Comey served as the seventh Director of the FBI， from 2013 until May 9， 2017， when he was fired by Donald Trump。

A Yonkers， New York native， Jim Comey attended the College of William and Mary and the University of Chicago Law School。 After law school， Comey returned to New York and joined the U。S。 Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York as an Assistant U。S。 Attorney。 There， he took on numerous crimes， most notably organized crime in the case of the United States v。 John Gambino， et al。 Afterwards， Comey became an Assistant U。S。 Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia， where he handled the high-profile case that followed the 1996 terrorist attack on the U。S。 military’s Khobar Towers in Khobar， Saudi Arabia。

Comey returned to New York after 9/11 to become the U。S。 Attorney for the Southern District of New York。 At the end of 2003， he was tapped to be the Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice （DOJ） under then-U。S。 Attorney General John Ashcroft and moved to the Washington， D。C。 area。

Comey left DOJ in 2005 to serve as General Counsel and Senior Vice President at defense contractor Lockheed Martin。 Five years later， he joined Bridgewater Associates， a Connecticut-based investment fund， as its General Counsel。 In early 2013， Comey became a Lecturer in Law， a Senior Research Scholar， and Hertog Fellow in National Security Law at Columbia Law School。

After he was fired as FBI Director， Comey held the King Lecture Chair in Public Policy at Howard University for 2017-18 and served as a Distinguished Lecturer in Public Policy at William and Mary for 2018-2019。 In September 2020， his first book， "A Higher Loyalty，" was made into a Showtime limited series， "The Comey Rule。"