By Ira Sharkansky
JERUSALEM — A friend gave me James Comey’s book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, and it strikes me as worthy of a review.
Comey was a bureaucrat. A professional in the field of law, who worked his way from Assistant US Attorney, through positions as lawyer in the private sector, then US Attorney in New York, Assistant Attorney General, and ultimately the head of the FBI. He served under Presidents G.W. Bush, was appointed to the FBI by Barack Obama, and served for a while until being fired by Donald Trump.
His book conveys his sense of truth, ethics, and an apolitical loyalty to national purpose. At the same time, he reveals a need to bend, at least a bit, to the pressures of high level politics.
A long section of the book deals with his wrestling with the issue of torture, under pressure from Vice President Dick Cheney and others, who wanted a flexible standard that would allow the CIA to do about what it wanted, on overseas bases, to those suspected of involvement in anti-American violence.
Here as elsewhere, he makes clear the lack of clarity in the numerous laws that apply to what governments are allowed to do. There isn’t one standard but many, and its not easy working through them in order to decide what is allowable.
It’s the ground on which a legal professional must wrestle. In Comey’s case, close to the top of government, along with partisan pressures and the inevitability of criticism in Congress, with members more concerned to feather they own nests than to work through the details of conflicting language.
Comey has good things to say about George W. Bush and Barack Obama, but not much that is positive about Donald Trump. He describes several meetings in the White House when a stream of words from President Trump made it difficult for others to comment; a limited sense of truth from on high; a lack of understanding by the President about the need for a politically neutral FBI, and demands for personal loyalty when inappropriate.
There’s a long section that deals with Hillary Clinton’s emails, or her use of non-government facilities for official letters. Some of them violated rules about sharing secret material with those out of the loop. But it was all tainted with the difficult issue of proving ill will, or something close to it. And ultimately it came right down to a period two weeks before the voting in a presidential election. All told there were thousands of letters, having to be read and judged by a number of FBI agents. She was cleared, more or less. Then additional sources appeared to re-open the case, and ultimately she was cleared again.
There is also a lot about Russia and Trump, including a snippet where Comey must tell Trump about a story describing Trump’s Moscow visit, several prostitutes, and them pissing on the big man’s bed.
The larger inquiry into Russia’s influence on Trump’s election would continue, but it remained blurred, and came up against Trump’s insistence that Comey pledge loyalty. The story peters out without any resolution, pretty much as the continuing saga.
But did all of this fuel Trump feelings that the FBI was tainted, and that it’s head would not assert his loyalty to the new President?
Ultimately Trump’s patience ended, and Comey heard about his firing from television, when on official business in Los Angeles. Then he flew flown back to Washington on an FBI plane despite the President’s demand that it was no longer appropriate to serve him with a government facility.
It’s not easy at the top. Especially when the man at the very top has no experience in government or politics, and comes on the scene as a business tycoon, used to getting his way with bluster and a sense of right, whatever the truth. And in a setting marked by more than 230 years of legislation and court decisions, whatever are the ethics is something for the quarrels of professionals and politicians.
There’s also personal stuff in the book. Comey’s admiration of his wife; dealings with his children; and the death of an infant whose hospital did not provide the routine treatment available elsewhere.
Altogether it’s warm, here and there confusing in the morass of law and the difficulties of personal choice, but a useful insight into a chaotic slice of government.
Early polls suggest that Trump will win yet again, in the electoral college if not in popular vote. The mass of candidates in the Democratic Party–called by one commentator “graduate students”–may cancel one another before one of them gets a chance at Trump. The few anti-Semites in Congress may spread their ire in ways to weaken the overall support for the Democratic Party. And the stock market is at record highs. Business has been good.
We’ll see what happens..
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Sharkansky is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University. He may be contacted via ira.sharkansky@sdjewishworld.com