Former FBI Director James Comey said in an interview that aired Wednesday that the Republican Party no longer represents his values and that he “can’t be associated with it.”
“The Republican Party has left me and many others. I need no better evidence than their new website – which I think is ‘Lyin Comey’ maybe? – attacking me. I just think they’ve lost their way, and I can’t be associated with it,” Comey told ABC News’ “Start Here” podcast.
“I see the Republican Party, as near as I can tell, reflects now entirely Donald Trump’s values,” the former FBI director added. “It doesn’t reflect values at all. It’s transactional, it’s ego-driven, it’s in service to his ego.”
Comey, who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, testified before Congress in 2016 that he had “been a registered Republican for most of my adult life” but that he was no longer registered.
In the ABC interview, he also offered a nod to the coordinated GOP campaign to discredit him during the promotional tour for his memoir, “A Higher Loyalty,” telling the podcast there was “no better evidence” the party left him.
“I find politics to be kind of icky in general,” Comey said. “I’d never want to run for office myself.”
On 2020, Comey remained coy, saying, “I can’t imagine a circumstance of me voting for President Trump, given what I think he reflects in terms of values,” but that he’d focus more on a presidential candidate “who reflects the values of this country.”
“If we don’t get that right,” Comey warned, “we can waste all the time we want to waste on fighting about policy. We’re losing something that is essential to America.”
Comey will sit down with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday and attend a CNN town hall with Anderson Cooper on April 25.
