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James Comey Quotes

Total quotes: 24
“Our leaders cannot be people who lie all the time. They just can’t. I hope people see that is true whether they are Republicans or Democrats."”
— James Comey, Comey on Trump Winning in 2020: I’ll Be at ‘My New Home in New Zealand’
Tagged: America, Political Leadership in America
“I wrote this book because I hope it will be useful to people living among the flames who are thinking about what comes next. I also hope it will be useful to readers long after the flames are doused, by inspiring them to choose a higher loyalty, to find truth among lies, and to pursue ethical leadership.”
— James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
Tagged: President Trump, Russian Investigation, Trump Administration
“For all my flaws, there is a zero percent chance that Patrice [my wife] would credit an allegation that I was with hookers peeing on each other in Moscow.”
— James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
Tagged: Golden Showers, President Trump, Russian Investigation
“Donald Trump’s presidency threatens much of what is good in this nation. We all bear responsibility for the deeply flawed choices put before voters during the 2016 election, and our country is paying a high price: this president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values. His leadership is transactional, ego driven, and about personal loyalty.”
— James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
Tagged: Donald Trump vs. James Comey, Criticisms of Donald Trump, Trump Administration
“As I found myself thrust into the Trump orbit, I once again was having 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.”
— James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
Tagged: Mob, Trump Administration, Donald Trump vs. James Comey
“Those years of bullying added up, minor indignity after indignity, making clear the consequences of power.”
— James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
Tagged: bullying, Power Dynamics
“What was distressing was what Trump symbolically seemed to be asking leaders of the law enforcement and national security agencies to do—to come forward and kiss the great man’s ring. To show their deference and loyalty.”
— James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
Tagged: Donald Trump vs. James Comey
“I should have said something right then. After all, I hadn’t exactly been shy when it came to asserting myself to leaders in other administrations. I’m not sure it would have made a difference, but maybe I should have told the new team about the norms of behavior, developed over generations, in fits and starts, to try to keep politics out of intelligence, to ensure that the president gets the best facts, whether he likes them or not, and to insulate the intelligence community from charges that its conclusions are politically cooked. Thinking that intelligence leaders would willingly contribute to a conversation about how to do PR in support of any presidential administration was at best a naïve notion, reflecting a misunderstanding of our role. Thinking that members of the outgoing Obama administration would be part of such an effort was just dumb.”
— James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
Tagged: Donald Trump vs. James Comey
“I have learned that ethical leaders lead by seeing beyond the short-term, beyond the urgent, and take every action with a view toward lasting values.”
— James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
Tagged: Ethical Leadership
“Ethical leaders do not run from criticism, especially self-criticism, and they don’t hide from uncomfortable questions. They welcome them. All people have flaws and I have many.”
— James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
Tagged: Leadership, Ethics
“I have worked with great men over the years, but two of my most important teachers about life and leadership were women.”
— James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
Tagged: Learning
“Everyone lies at some point in their life. The important questions are where, about what, and how often?”
— James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
Tagged: Lies, lying, Understanding Why We Lie
“Far from creating a new norm where lying is widely accepted, the Trump presidency has ignited a focus on truth and ethics. Parents are talking to their children about truth-telling, about respect for all people, about rejecting prejudice and hate. Schools and religious institutions are talking about values-driven leadership.”
— James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
Tagged: Donald Trump vs. James Comey, American Politics, Leadership In America Under Trump
“Whatever your politics, it is wrong to dismiss the damage to the norms and traditions that have guided the presidency and our public life for decades or, in many cases, since the republic was founded. It is also wrong to stand idly by, or worse, to stay silent when you know better, while a president brazenly seeks to undermine public confidence in law enforcement institutions that were established to keep our leaders in check.”
— James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
Tagged: American Politics, Donald Trump vs. James Comey, Government Norms
“I remember thinking, ‘How could your wife think there’s a 1 percent chance you were with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow?' I’m a flawed human being, but there is literally zero chance that my wife would think that was true. So, what kind of marriage to what kind of man does your wife think that there’s only a 99 percent chance you didn’t do that?”
— James Comey, It’s possible Trump was with hookers ‘peeing on each other’
Tagged: Trump vs. Russia, Things Not To Do In Moscow, Comey On Trump
“It is entirely possible that, because I was making decisions in an environment where Hillary Clinton was sure to be the next president, my concern about making her an illegitimate president by concealing the restarted investigation bore greater weight than it would have if the election appeared closer or if Donald Trump were ahead in all polls. But I don’t know.”
— James Comey, James Comey Has a Story to Tell. It’s Very Persuasive.
Tagged: Politics, James Comey, Donald Trump, Donald J. Trump
“We are experiencing a dangerous time in our country with a political environment where basic facts are disputed, fundamental truth is questioned, lying is normalized and unethical behavior is ignored, excused or rewarded.”
— James Comey, James Comey Has a Story to Tell. It’s Very Persuasive.
“It makes me mildly nauseous to think we might have had some impact on the election, but honestly it wouldn't change the decision.”
— James Comey, Comey Says It Makes Him ‘Nauseous’ to Think FBI Might Have Impacted Election
Tagged: 2016 Presidential Election, Election 2016, FBI
“I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, and so I thought it really important to document.”
— James Comey, Full Transcript and Video: James Comey’s Testimony on Capitol Hill
Tagged: Russia, FBI, US Politics
“I am so sorry that the FBI workforce had to hear them and I’m so sorry that the American people were told them.”
— James Comey, Full Transcript and Video: James Comey’s Testimony on Capitol Hill
Tagged: Russia Investigation, FBI, US Politics
“Thank you for standing watch. Thank you for doing so much good for this country. Do that good as long as ever you can.”
— James Comey, Full text: James Comey testimony transcript on Trump and Russia
Tagged: Public Service
“There have been many, many stories purportedly based on classified information about — well, about lots of stuff, but especially about Russia, that are just dead wrong.”
— James Comey, Full Transcript and Video: James Comey’s Testimony on Capitol Hill
Tagged: Media, Media Inaccuracies
“There should be no fuzz on this whatsoever, the Russians interfered in our election.”
— James Comey, Full Transcript and Video: James Comey’s Testimony on Capitol Hill
Tagged: Election 2016, Russians and Americans, US Politics
“The President began by asking me whether I wanted to stay on as FBI Director, which I found strange because he had already told me twice in earlier conversations that he hoped I would stay, and I had assured him that I intended to. He said that lots of people wanted my job and, given the abuse I had taken during the previous year, he would understand if I wanted to walk away.”
— James Comey, READ: James Comey's prepared testimony
Tagged: Trump, James and Donald
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