Fired FBI director James Comey criticizes Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor whom Comey worked for in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York beginning in 1987.
Giuliani craved publicity, Comey said in his book "A Higher Loyalty," Politico reported.
“There was something of an unwritten code about working in the office of Rudy Giuliani. In his case the message was that Rudy was the star at the top and the successes of the office flowed in his direction. You violated this code at your peril," Comey wrote in the book.
Comey said that working for Giuliani had been his "dream job," Politico reported.
"Giuliani had extraordinary confidence, and as a young prosecutor I found his brash style exciting, which was part of what drew me to his office… I loved it that my boss was on magazine covers standing on the courthouse steps with his hands on his hips, as if he ruled the world," Comey wrote in the book.
"It fired me up," Comey wrote.
A supervisor warned Comey that the spotlight must focus on Giuliani, the former FBI director wrote. "The most dangerous place in New York is between Rudy and a microphone," the supervisor said to Comey, he related in the book.
However, Comey said that he eventually came to see that Giuliani had an "imperial style" of management.
"It took me a while to realize that Giuliani’s confidence was not leavened with a whole lot of humility. The cost of that imbalance was that there was very little oxygen left for others… though Giuliani’s confidence was exciting, it fed an imperial style that severely narrowed the circle of people with whom he interacted, something I didn’t realize until much later: a leader needs the truth, but an emperor does not consistently hear it from his underlings," Comey wrote in the book, Politico reported.
Former FBI agent James Gagliano said in Politico that he noticed Comey taking aim at Giuliani in the book. “Every mention he made of Giuliani as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District, there were gratuitous shots… it seems like (Comey) had an ax to grind with Rudy Giuliani," the former agent said.
Comey has been discussing his book in appearances on talk shows. On CBS’ "The Late Show," Comey noted that the FBI reviewed the book to make sure it did not include classified information.
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