‘This is not some tin-pot dictatorship’: Comey pushes back against Trump’s suggestion he be jailed

The following article by John Wagner was posted on the Washington Post website April 17, 2018:

President Trump’s rage at the Russia investigation often manifests in insult-laden attacks, especially aimed at former FBI director James B. Comey. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Former FBI director James B. Comey is pushing back against President Trump’s suggestion that he should be jailed, saying in a new interview that Trump’s pronouncements on Twitter pose a “great danger.”

“This is not some tin-pot dictatorship where the leader of the country gets to say, ‘The people I don’t like go to jail,’” Comey told NPR in the latest in a series of interviews to promote his new book.

In tweets Sunday and Monday, Trump alleged, without citing evidence, that Comey had committed “many crimes” and deserves to be jailed for leaking classified information and lying to Congress — allegations Comey denies.

Comey, who was fired by Trump last year, told NPR that he doesn’t follow Trump on Twitter but sees some of his tweets.

“The president of the United States just said that a private citizen should be jailed,” Comey said. “And I think the reaction of most of us was, ‘Meh, that’s another one of those things.’ This is not normal. This is not okay. There’s a danger that we will become numb to it, and we will stop noticing the threats to our norms.”

The White House and Republican National Committee have launched a widespread campaign to undermine Comey’s credibility as he conducts a media blitz to promote his book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,”which is set to be released Tuesday.

Trump has tweeted more than a half-dozen times about Comey in recent days, including a retweet Monday night of a post promoting a new RNC website that refers to “Lyin’ Comey.”