During tonight’s CNN town hall hosted by Anderson Cooper, former FBI Director James Comey was asked a question by one young man that drew an especially boisterous reaction from the crowd.
“In recent weeks, President Trump has named you ‘Slippery Comey.’ Was is your nickname for him?” the attendee asked to laughs from the crowd.
Anderson Cooper interjected, “By the way, he’s also called you shady, a showboat, a grandstander, a liar and a leaker.”
But it was Comey’s immediate reaction that stole the show.
“And you’re forgetting, two formulations of ‘slimeball.’ The first with no space, then a space,” he said, as the crowd laughed.
He then went on to give an answer as dignified as it was thoughtful which, given the current occupants of the White House, the American people sadly no longer expect from those in positions of power.
“I call him the President of the United States, because I respect the office,” he said to applause. “No matter my concerns about him, I want him to be successful.”
“We should root for our president,” he added, “That also doesn’t mean we should fail to hold him accountable, especially when he threatens our core values.”
Former FBI Director James Comey says he doesn't have a nickname for President Trump: "I call him the President of the United States, because I respect the office. … No matter my concerns about him, I want him to be successful." https://t.co/uvCe9u2bNz #ComeyTownHall pic.twitter.com/eFSMxu3UnV
— CNN (@CNN) April 26, 2018
Comey, for his part, has been especially visible in the media given the release of his new book, “A Higher Loyalty,” which has already sold a staggering 600,000 copies in its first week. He has simultaneously become a target for the GOP given his penchant for calling the president out on his glaring lack of moral aptitude for the office he holds.
Amid the ridiculousness that is Trump’s Kanye tweets and picking dandruff off of French President Emmanuel Macron, America enjoyed tonight’s brief return to grace with a man who truly embodies the ideals that make this country the envy of the world.
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