Utah Senate candidate Mitt Romney is criticizing former FBI Director James Comey’s recently released memoir, saying that it reads “a bit too much like a novel.”
Romney acknowledged in an interview with CNN that he hadn’t read the book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership.” But he said that excerpts he had seen were “disappointing” and appeared to get too much into Comey’s “personal reactions.”
“I haven’t read it, but the excerpts that I’ve seen, it struck me — this isn’t what I would have expected for an FBI director,” Romney said on Saturday.
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“I would have expected this from a former Cabinet member, or a member of the White House staff, but somehow felt that the FBI director was more separate from those kinds of comments.”
Romney also acknowledged, however, that Comey may have felt the need to take personal shots at President Trump and his administration because of the White House’s attacks on his character and credibility.
Comey was abruptly fired by Trump last year, ostensibly for his handling of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of State. Trump later acknowledged that he had taken the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election into consideration when he dismissed Comey.
Comey is currently on a media blitz to promote his memoir, which was released last Tuesday. The book casts Trump as unethical, self-interested and “untethered to truth,” and offers some personal attacks on the president’s appearance.
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and 2012 GOP presidential nominee, was particularly critical of Trump during the 2016 presidential race, but has more recently tempered his criticism since announcing his Senate bid.
Romney, who on Saturday failed to secure the Utah Republican Party’s nomination for Senate, also told CNN he is not yet ready to commit to endorsing Trump for reelection.