CNN's town hall featuring former FBI Director James Comey James Brien ComeyThe FBI should turn off the FARA faucet Barr threatened to resign over Trump attempts to fire Wray: report 'Fox News Sunday' to mark 25 years on air MORE struggled from a ratings perspective on Thursday night, finishing third among the cable news networks, according to Nielsen Media Research. The Comey town hall, which ran from 8 p.m. to 9:15 p.m., won 1.57 million viewers, compared with 2.88 million for Fox News and 1.8 million for MSNBC. In the key 25- to 54-year-old demographic, CNN's Comey town hall won 326,000 viewers, compared with 464,000 for Fox and 301,000 for MSNBC. ADVERTISEMENT The Comey numbers were also down from CNN's first town hall with the Trump critic in April 2018. That broadcast won 1.68 million viewers and 565,000 in the key demographic. Comey blasted President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE repeatedly throughout the live event that aired from Washington, D.C., and was hosted by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. "The president is not above the law, and I don't accept the notion that because the president is the head of the executive branch he can't ever obstruct justice in connection with executive branch activities," Comey said. "That's just crazy and a recipe for lawlessness." Trump hit back at Comey on Twitter shortly after the event in a tweet to his 60 million followers. "James Comey is a disgrace to the FBI & will go down as the worst Director in its long and once proud history," Trump wrote. "He brought the FBI down, almost all Republicans & Democrats thought he should be FIRED, but the FBI will regain greatness because of the great men & women who work there!"<doc-sep>Comey’s ubiquity stands in stark contrast to Mueller, whose resolute commitment to silence lasted, perhaps to a fault, for the entirety of his two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Trump had obstructed justice by trying to thwart his probe. While Mueller’s position has clearly been to let his work do the talking, Comey’s career has been defined by moments in which he has chosen to speak up, either in public or in private. It seems a lifetime ago now, but the formative moment in Comey’s time as a public figure occurred a decade before he was fired as FBI director, nearly to the day. That was the day he gave riveting testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his role in an episode in which he resisted, verbally and, in a way, physically, an attempt by the George W. Bush White House to persuade an ailing Attorney General John Ashcroft to certify the legality of the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program. Hospitalized for pancreatitis, Ashcroft had transferred his powers as attorney general to Comey, his deputy, who refused to recertify the program ahead of a swiftly approaching deadline. Bush was adamant that the program continue, so he dispatched his chief of staff, Andrew Card, and the White House counsel, Alberto Gonzales, to get Ashcroft’s signature instead. At first hesitantly, then dramatically, Comey recounted how he had rushed to the hospital— “I got out of the car and literally ran up the stairs”—and stood sentry with Ashcroft’s wife, waiting for the Bush aides to arrive. Ashcroft was barely lucid. When Card and Gonzales showed up, Comey told the committee, Ashcroft “stunned” him by fully backing Comey on the substance and deferring to him as the acting chief of the Justice Department. “There is the attorney general,” Ashcroft said, pointing at Comey. When Bush reauthorized the program anyway the next day, despite lacking certification from the Justice Department, Comey prepared a resignation letter, along with, in his telling, then–FBI Director Robert Mueller and several other senior Justice Department officials. Bush backed down. Read: Revisiting a famous hospital confrontation The comparisons to a Hollywood movie were inescapable—not only the inherent drama of the climactic hospital-room confrontation, but Comey’s sober but jaw-dropping retelling of it. A star was born. Here was Mr. Comey Goes to Washington, a humble public servant heroically standing up to political pressure and upholding the rule of law. “I thought I had just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man,” Comey told the Senate. That testimony set the stage for all that was to follow. It established Comey’s reputation as a Republican who would confront his own party, culminating in a Democratic president, Barack Obama, naming him to succeed Mueller as FBI director in 2013. And though it wasn’t necessarily apparent at the time, the hearing revealed Comey’s flair for the dramatic. Here was someone who not only did the right thing, but wanted the world to know he had done the right thing.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON – James Comey looked straight into the camera in June 2017 as he uttered his first public denunciation of President Donald Trump. “Those were lies, plain and simple,” the former FBI director said, as millions of Americans watched his dramatic testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Comey still uses that word – “lies” – when he talks about Trump, most recently on Thursday in a CNN town hall where he called Trump a “chronic liar” who should not be in office. His penchant for metaphors came through in a recent New York Times op-ed in which he described the president as an “amoral leader” who devours the souls of better men. And in a scathing interview with USA TODAY last year, he declared Trump “morally unfit to be president.” Comey's outrage has spilled onto the party to which he once belonged – he has urged Americans to vote for Democrats in 2020. He’s a quirky Twitter celebrity whose page is an amalgam of pensive nature photos, dad jokes and urgent calls for the public to remove the president who removed him. The CNN forum, which coincided with the second anniversary of his firing by Trump, was only the latest instance in which he garnered the spotlight. Though the town hall format is usually reserved for presidential candidates, Comey dismissed the notion that he is considering a run for public office, saying he'd "never" do so. Still, Comey's immersion into politics is a stark contrast to the world of secrecy and discreetness at the FBI, making him a more polarizing figure in the Trump era. Supporters see his voice as a check on a commander-in-chief whose behavior they find disturbing. But Comey's detractors believe the former FBI director's disdain for Trump influenced the counterintelligence investigation on Russia and the president's campaign. They contend the FBI was biased against Trump. Views on impeachment:Comey says voters should hold Trump accountable in 2020 'landslide,' opposes impeachment Exclusive:James Comey strikes back against 'morally unfit' Donald Trump in scathing interview Comey isn't just a former FBI director. He's a former FBI director whose actions are consequential to the president. He wrote memos detailing his private conversations with Trump, some of which he found troubling. He orchestrated the release of those memos' contents, hoping to prompt a special counsel's appointment. And those memos became part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation that ultimately begat a damaging inside account of Trump's behavior. During the CNN town hall, Comey said Trump would have been prosecuted for obstruction of justice if not for the office he holds. For Comey’s critics, every public condemnation risks reinforcing the perception that he – and therefore the FBI – played in favor of one side over the other. And every criticism places the bureau in a perilous place: in the cross hairs of partisan politics. “He is telling the world now that he thinks the president is amoral. That opinion just didn’t come out of thin air on the day he was fired,” said Mark Morgan, a career FBI official who was an assistant director under Comey. “As a former director of the FBI, when he speaks, he still brings the full force of credibility of that position, and so he’s not an average citizen when he speaks, and he knows that … Every time he speaks, every time he does an op-ed, he continues to do damage to the FBI.” Unchartered waters Comey declined to be interviewed. His supporters say he found himself in unchartered waters from the moment the president asked him to “lift the cloud” of the Russia investigation that has loomed over the administration. A voice like Comey’s, supporters say, is critical at a time when the president attacks and spreads falsehoods about the country’s institutions, including the FBI. “Clearly, he could stay out of the spotlight. He didn’t have to write a book, doesn’t have to write speeches, doesn’t have to speak out,” said Greg Brower, who was the FBI’s assistant director for the Office of Congressional Affairs. But, Brower said: “He just feels strongly that people need to know what he knows and what he experienced.” “I admire the fact that he’s not afraid to be public about this,” Brower said. Friction between Comey and Trump has only intensified. Views on whether the public needs to keep hearing from the controversial FBI director is just as divided as today’s partisan government. Where there seems to be consensus is that Comey’s post-FBI persona could have a lasting impact on the institution he once led, whether or not he intended to. A ‘self-serving’ endeavor or a public service? Comey was a beloved FBI director lauded by rank-and-file employees, according to an annual survey of employees. Even for some of his harshest critics, he was a decent leader. He valued diversity in hiring and won the support of women and minorities at the agency, said Bobby Chacon, a former special agent who retired in 2014, during Comey’s second year as director. He was intelligent, affable, and an effective communicator, said Morgan, who left the bureau in 2016 and whom Trump recently tapped to lead the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The turning point, at least for some, happened on July 5, 2016, when Comey departed from FBI policy by delivering a blistering criticism of Hillary Clinton, even as he announced that the then-Democratic presidential candidate would not face charges for her use of a private email server as secretary of state. Comey's decision to share his memos with a friend, who then shared their contents to a reporter, is “when he absolutely lost me,” said Morgan, who sees his former boss's public life as a “self-serving” endeavor. Comey town hall:'No doubt' Trump would be charged with obstruction if not president Like what you're reading? :Download the USA TODAY app for more “I have no problem with him pushing back on Trump’s criticism of the FBI, but he has taken it way, way beyond that point,” Chacon said. Comey defended the FBI again on Thursday, pushing back against notion that the bureau spied on the Trump campaign, a claim that president had made repeatedly.<doc-sep>CEO of ADL: Seeing a 'blitzkrieg of anti-Jewish' acts across US Dana Bash: This is so telling about where the Republican party is NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 24: Trump Tower stands on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on August 24, 2018 in New York City. Following new allegations over hush money that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid to an adult-film actress, the Manhattan district attorneyÕs office in New York City may seek criminal charges against the Trump Organization in the coming days. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Why GOP is standing in the way of Capitol riot investigation WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 08: US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) remarks on the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the US Capitol November 8, 2006 in Washington, DC. Warner said he supports President George W. Bush's nomination of former CIA Director Robert Gates for Secretary of Defense. Warner said he anticipates Gates' confirmation before the end of the year. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), joined by Senate Assistant Minority Leader John Thune (R-SD) (L) and Senate Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), speaks following a Senate Republican Policy luncheon at the Russell Senate Office Building on May 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. Hear what Matt Gaetz said about Paul Ryan before his speech Former GOP senator: If McConnell said this, 'it's shameful' 'Some people have no shame': Biden calls out GOP lawmakers with list Comey: Trump would be charged if he was not President (CNN) — Former FBI Director James Comey said Thursday that “it sure looks like” President Donald Trump had criminal intent to commit obstruction of justice during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. At a CNN town hall in Washington, Anderson Cooper asked Comey whether, based on the redacted version of Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, he believed Trump had criminal intent to commit obstruction. “It sure looks like he did, in connection with a couple episodes – the direction to (former White House counsel) Don McGahn to get the special counsel fired is to my mind a flaming example” of criminal intent, Comey said. “The President is not above the law, and I don’t accept the notion that because the President is the head of the executive branch he can’t ever obstruct justice in connection with executive branch activities,” Comey said. “That’s just crazy and a recipe for lawlessness,” the former FBI director said. Comey’s appearance at the town hall marked exactly two years since Trump fired him. His dismissal ultimately led Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to appoint Mueller to continue the Russia investigation. Mueller wrote in his report that he could not clear Trump of obstruction of justice. The report details numerous cases in which the President asked his aides to take actions that would have obstructed the investigation but states they were unsuccessful because the aides refused his orders. The special counsel did not make a “traditional prosecutorial judgment” on the obstruction of justice question, Attorney General William Barr said in a news conference before the report was released. Barr said he and Rosenstein determined the evidence was “not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.” On Wednesday, Trump invoked blanket executive privilege over Mueller’s full report, escalating a looming constitutional confrontation over the report between his administration and congressional Democrats.<doc-sep>
President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE tore into James Comey James Brien ComeyThe FBI should turn off the FARA faucet Barr threatened to resign over Trump attempts to fire Wray: report 'Fox News Sunday' to mark 25 years on air MORE on Thursday night, hours after the former FBI director suggested in a wide-ranging CNN town hall that he be prosecuted. Trump knocked Comey in a tweet as "a disgrace to the FBI" while predicting that he "will go down as the worst Director in its long and once proud history." "He brought the FBI down, almost all Republicans & Democrats thought he should be FIRED, but the FBI will regain greatness because of the great men & women who work there!" he added. James Comey is a disgrace to the FBI & will go down as the worst Director in its long and once proud history. He brought the FBI down, almost all Republicans & Democrats thought he should be FIRED, but the FBI will regain greatness because of the great men & women who work there! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 9, 2019 ADVERTISEMENT The remarks were the latest salvo in the pair's fractious relationship and came exactly two years after Trump fired Comey, the law enforcement official who at the time was leading the federal probe into the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election. Comey said during the appearance that he had "no doubt" Trump would have been charged with obstruction if he were not president, adding that the Justice Department would have to take a "serious look" at whether to pursue charges after he leaves office. "Whether it's a wise thing to do to a former president, I don't know, that's a harder question — a much bigger question — than the facts of the case," Comey said.