Little hands? President Donald Trump waves to media as he walks from the Oval Office yesterday. Photo / AP
Former FBI director James Comey has unleashed on Donald Trump in his new book A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership in which he describes the US president as "untethered to truth".
The book largely focuses on a laundry list of political flashpoints from the 2016 election campaign and the early months of the Trump administration based on Comey's interactions with him.
The president has since offered a mini-review of Mr Comey's memoir in a Tweet:
"The big questions in Comey's badly reviewed book aren't answered like, how come he gave up Classified Information (jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail), why did the DNC refuse to give Server to the FBI (why didn't they TAKE it), why the phony memos, McCabe's $700,000 & more?"
The jumble of references appeared to allude to unsubstantiated accusations Mr Trump has previously made claiming Comey lied in Senate testimony last May in denying he had served as an anonymous news source.
But it's the jabs in the book about Mr Trump's appearance, personality and behind-the-scenes behaviour that are likely to have most aggravated the thin-skinned leader of the free world. In a string of sensational burns towards the president, little was off limits, from Trump's alleged tiny hands to his apparent use of "tanning goggles", in Comey's book released last week.
Here are some of the highlights:
In his book, Comey takes direct aim at Trump's appearance, a particularly sensitive topic for the president, although a tactic he often employs himself when insulting others.
Comey drafted the Crooked Hillary exoneration long before he talked to her (lied in Congress to Senator G), then based his decisions on her poll numbers. Disgruntled, he, McCabe, and the others, committed many crimes!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2018
A large man at 6-foot-8, Comey notes that he checked the president's hand size: It was "smaller than mine but did not seem unusually so".
He also describes the president as shorter than he expected, his tie was "too long," and he had "bright white half-moons under his eyes" that Comey says he believes came from tanning goggles.
He does, however, give Trump some credit. "He had impressively coiffed, bright blond hair, which upon close inspection looked to be all his," Comey writes.
"I remember wondering how long it must take him in the morning to get that done."
In his book, Comey likens Trump to a dishonest, ego-driven mob boss and says he demanded the then FBI chief's personal pledge of loyalty.
Slippery James Comey, a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
That damning account has infuriated the president at a moment of intensifying legal pressure on other fronts.
The probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians during the 2016 presidential race, now led by independent special prosecutor Robert Mueller, increasingly menaces Trump's inner circle.
I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty. I hardly even knew this guy. Just another of his many lies. His “memos” are self serving and FAKE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
And last week federal agents in New York raided the office and hotel room of Trump's longtime personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, possibly in connection with secret hush payments he made to women claiming they had affairs with Trump.
To Comey, Trump is everything a president shouldn't be. And he's not mincing words.
Comey repeatedly compares Trump's behaviour to a New York mafia don. He calls him "untethered to truth," "unethical" and a "forest fire" burning through the foundation of American democracy, norms and values. "Donald Trump's presidency threatens much of what is good in this nation," Comey writes. He went even further while promoting the book in an ABC interview with anchor George Stephanopoulos. "A person who sees moral equivalence in Charlottesville, who talks about and treats women like they're pieces of meat, who lies constantly about matters big and small and insists the American people believe it, that person's not fit to be president of the United States, on moral grounds," Mr Comey said.
Much of Comey's version of his interactions with Trump regarding Russia came out during his congressional testimony last year. But the book and his interview reveal some telling details.
Comey throws AG Lynch “under the bus!” Why can’t we all find out what happened on the tarmac in the back of the plane with Wild Bill and Lynch? Was she promised a Supreme Court seat, or AG, in order to lay off Hillary. No golf and grandkids talk (give us all a break)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
Comey says Trump seemed fixated on an allegation made in a dossier compiled by a former British spy — and funded by Trump's political opponents — involving Russian prostitutes urinating on a bed in a Moscow hotel. The president brought up the allegation multiple times, Comey writes, including an unprompted denial: "I'm a germaphobe. There's no way I would let people pee on each other around me. No way," Comey quotes the president as saying.
The big questions in Comey’s badly reviewed book aren’t answered like, how come he gave up Classified Information (jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail), why did the DNC refuse to give Server to the FBI (why didn’t they TAKE it), why the phony memos, McCabe’s $700,000 & more?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
Comey also writes that Trump considered asking the FBI to debunk the allegation to reassure his wife, Melania Trump.
Prostitutes aside, Comey says the president and his team were much less concerned about the national security threat of Russian election meddling. "They were about to lead a country that had been attacked by a foreign adversary, yet they had no questions about what the future Russian threat might be," Comey writes. Instead, they launched into a strategy session about how to "spin what we'd just told them" for the public, he writes.
Unbelievably, James Comey states that Polls, where Crooked Hillary was leading, were a factor in the handling (stupidly) of the Clinton Email probe. In other words, he was making decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win, and he wanted a job. Slimeball!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2018
James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired. He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH. He is a weak and.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018
....untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI. His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst “botch jobs” of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018
Comey largely avoids talking about the Mueller investigation in detail. But he told ABC News that he believes there's evidence that the president obstructed justice and says he can't rule out that the Russians have compromising information on Trump.
"It's possible," Comey said.
Residents cleared debris and drained flooded streets after the storm.