Former FBI Director James Comey is not buying President Donald Trump‘s claims that “no one respects women more than” him.
In a new interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that aired Sunday evening, Comey described the president as a man “who talks about and treats women like they’re pieces of meat” as the former FBI director explained why he sees Trump as morally unfit to run the country.
Comey, who is promoting his new book A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, out Tuesday, did not elaborate on his claim about Trump’s treatment of women.
The subject has been under heavy scrutiny ever since the infamous Access Hollywood tape surfaced in the final days before the 2016 election. After facing widespread backlash at the time, Trump apologized for comments he made on the recording — in which he bragged about sexually assaulting women and “grabbing them by the p—y” — but went on to repeatedly dismiss them as “locker room talk.”
Since then, at least 19 women have come forward to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct, including unwanted kissing and groping. Trump has strongly denied all the allegations and repeatedly insisted that “no one respects women more than me.”
In his new book, Comey also claims that Trump repeatedly pressed him to investigate the alleged existence of the infamous so-called “pee tape,” which purportedly shows Trump watching Russian prostitutes urinate on a Moscow hotel bed in 2013.
“It bothered him if there was ‘even a one-percent chance’ his wife, Melania, thought it was true,” Comey writes of the alleged encounter, which Trump has denied.
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Comey also wrote that he wondered why Melania might think there was even a 1-percent chance the allegations were true, claiming there is “zero chance” his own wife would believe such a claim.
“In what kind of marriage, to what kind of man, does a spouse conclude there is only a 99 percent chance her husband didn’t do that?” Comey writes.
The president initially retaliated by lashing out at Comey on Twitter, calling him “a proven leaker and liar” and an “untruthful slimeball.”
He also criticized Comey in a series of tweets following the ABC interview, again calling him a “slimeball” and a liar.
“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!” Trump declared on Sunday.