NBC’s Guthrie Relentlessly Grills Comey on Book: ‘Did You Enjoy Taking Those Shots’ at Trump?
James Comey faced a surprisingly intense grilling from Savannah Guthrie on the Today show Wednesday morning, where he was on to promote his newly released memoir.
“I don’t want to be an armchair psychologist,” Guthrie opened. “But I read the book, I’ve been watching your interviews. It still seems raw.”
“It feels like you might have some scores to settle. That you might have a little bit of anger left over and a little bit of bitterness. Would you plead guilty to all that?”
“I wouldn’t actually,” Comey replied. He argued that the book was “painful to relive” and left him “physically drained,” but that he doesn’t “feel a sense of anger.”
“There’s been a lot of reactions to the book so far,” Guthrie followed up. “Some of the most widely cited parts have to do with your description and words about President Trump. Including calling his skin orange and saying he looked like he had tanning goggles. Some people said that was, for lack of a better word, that was a little catty.”
“Did you enjoy taking those shots at the president?” she asked.
No,” Comey replied. “I didn’t think of them as shots and I still don’t.”
“Really?” Guthrie exclaimed.
The former FBI director contended that he was providing a description to try and “bring the reader into that scene and describe in great detail what I’m seeing.”
“But you’re talking about his hair?” Guthrie continued. “Some people are saying, ‘Wait a minute. James Comey, you just got in the gutter with President Trump, who is known for his name-calling.'”
“Did you stoop?”
“I really don’t think so,” Comey replied.
“You don’t think you’ve diminished yourself?” Guthrie asked.
“I hope not,” he said.
Guthrie went on to grill Comey about his role as a witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s campaign ties to Russia.
Watch above, via ABC.
[image via screengrab]
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