A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James Comey, Macmillan, 2018, 304 pages
Amidst all the furore we see and hear almost daily from the White House and indeed the oft-regarded farcical tweets of one President Donald Trump, it seems that every other week there is something in the media which is out to get President Trump and his administration. Whether you’re talking about the alleged affair with Stormy Daniels and the hush money paid by Michael Cohen. Or Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling of the presidential election. Or perhaps the fresh allegations of Trump’s team hiring private investigators to orchestrate a “dirty ops” campaign against diplomats to discredit the Iran nuclear deal. You name it. There’s always something.
So, when the sacking of ex-FBI director James Comey became public, media pundits all took a fair crack of the whip to underscore the reason he was fired and show how the White House would deal with those they perceive to be threats. In all of this, James Comey wasn’t presented with a fair platform to express his side of the story and to share his personal views on the scandal. Now, Comey returns to the media spotlight with A Higher Loyalty, an opportunity to set the record straight.
Comey pulls no punches in his scathing critique of President Trump, claiming very strongly that his presidency “threatens much of what is good in this nation” and that his presidency is “unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values”.
Comey likened his initial meeting at Trump Tower with the President-elect as akin to a meeting with La Cosa Nostra, the notorious Mafia of Sicilian roots, that he once dealt with as then-Assistant U.S. Attorney in New York. Comey again draws that parallel with the administration and the Mafia when President Trump made an unprecedented move and asked for his “personal loyalty” at a private dinner at the White House.
Whilst Comey is forceful and strong with his words about President Trump, what becomes clear is that this isn’t a personal attack on the presidency at all. Rather, his condemnation derives from his personal values of ethics which ran tangent to the President. In an interview with ABC News, Comey retorts that President Trump is morally unfit to be president, and that is what forms the crux of the book, A Higher Loyalty.
As the title suggests, this is more about expressing what Comey believes are higher values that an ethical leader should exude, rather than focusing on criticising a presidency alone. Values akin to respecting others, pursuing the truth and displaying integrity which form the basis of Comey’s personal belief system.
In A Higher Loyalty, we’re taken through the hand-guided journey of Comey’s personal and professional life; speaking candidly of the terrifying ordeal of a burglary he encountered as a young teen, to the tragic loss of his son. Comey enthusiastically presents his value system throughout the book by linking those experiences which shaped him, to underpinning his life’s work. That is, pursuing justice in a fair and principled manner. Much of which made him come at loggerheads with then-Vice President Dick Cheney (under Bush’s administration) pressing on him to drop the legality issue over the NSA eavesdropping program of suspected terrorists. Of course, the backlash against James Comey over his condemnation of prisoners being tortured in Abu Ghraib and other CIA black sites was no different.
What’s important to note was the political climate in America post-9/11, desperate times may have called for desperate measures. But Comey went against the political grain and showed resolve, something which undoubtably would’ve teetered on career suicide at the time. That’s what makes A Higher Loyalty important, it is a testament to what a real conscious leader should look like, think like, and act like in its pure, uncorrupted form. The intimately detailed accounts of James Comey attest to that.
But good intentions can also run the risk of being executed poorly, indeed in an open admission, Comey shines light on the fact that he too can be, and has been, impulsive on his decisions. The FBI investigation, under Comey’s leadership, over Hilary Clinton’s alleged use of a private e-mail server to conduct classified government work showed exactly that. Here, Comey makes his case that he was caught between a rock and a hard place, damned by the timing of the revelations of potential evidence, and the impending presidential election.
Now if there’s ever an investigation into an open case, political neutrality is a key pre-requisite. But Comey’s grave mistake came when he called a press conference over Clinton’s case, foolishly stating that she had been “extremely careless”. Words are powerful, even more so when you use them against a candidate who’s running to become President. To make matters worse, Comey admits that his handling of the entire case was executed with a firm belief that Hilary would win anyway. Comey shouldn’t get away with political naivety here.
The erosion of trust against Hilary Clinton over his words and the entire investigation, including the re-opening of the case two weeks prior to election day, may have been the undoing of her campaign. Is it any wonder then why people thought he was pandering to the Republicans? Of course, it cannot be said for certain that the investigation alone led to her loss, that remains for debate. Regardless of which, James Comey’s pitfalls make the ironic case of what not to do as an ethical leader, despite the good intentions at heart.
A Higher Loyalty then, may not be the ground-breaking revelation which seeks to politically ruin the current administration as some may have expected. Indeed, Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation of possible Russian interference on the campaign still looms a greater threat to the presidency. But overall the book serves a higher purpose of pursuing nobler ideals in and of within governance and leadership in today’s political climate of fear and anger. That includes the protection of the independence and integrity of our political institutions. The book also does the service of showing us how the best of intentions can fall awry as highlighted by James Comey’s folly over the Clinton investigation. As it stands, Comey makes clear of his side of the story, defending his case over the latter years of his time as FBI Director. It is a story that will go down the annals of history, and that alone makes it worth listening to.
Sameer Qureshi 