James Comey on Trump’s assertion that releasing memos was illegal: ‘He’s just making stuff up’

“After I was fired, I put together a legal team of three people,” Comey said. “One of whom was professor Dan Richman at Columbia University. After I had asked him to give this information to the media, I separately gave my legal team four memos, which were unclassified.”

The hour-long town hall was held at William & Mary, Comey’s alma mater, in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Student Assembly at William & Mary co-hosted the event. During the event, Comey weighed in on a wide range of topics, including his interactions with Trump, the President’s penchant for nicknames and his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

‘It’s always significant when someone lies to you’

At one point, Cooper asked Comey about how he wrote in his memos that Trump told him he did not stay overnight in Moscow around the time of the Miss Universe pageant in 2013.

There is no indication that such a tape exists, and Trump has denied it.

Cooper asked Comey, “Since then, flight records, social media posts, congressional testimony, also photographs prove that he actually did spend the night in Moscow. Do you think it’s significant that the President lied to you twice?”

“It’s always significant when someone lies to you, especially about something you’re not asking about. It tends to reflect a consciousness of guilt,” Comey said. “I don’t know what was in his head. I don’t know whether he was intentionally misstating a fact to me.”

Choice on Clinton email case between ‘bad’ and ‘catastrophic’

Weeks before the 2016 presidential election, Comey informed Congress that the FBI was reviewing additional emails in connection with the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. That announcement came after Comey had previously announced that he would not recommend charges against Clinton as a result of the private server.

Comey described the situation over whether to reveal that he was re-opening the investigation as a choice between “bad” and “catastrophic.”

“No matter where the polls are, you’re going to have to always choose bad, and know you’re going to get hammered for it, but know you had two choices and you chose the least bad,” Comey said.

Comey announced, just ahead of the election, that the newly-discovered emails did not change the previous conclusion that Clinton should not face charges.

But Clinton and her allies have argued the sequence of events may have cost the Democratic presidential nominee the election.

Comey’s nickname for Trump

When Comey was asked during the town hall what his nickname is for Trump, he said he doesn’t have one.

“Honestly, I call him the President of the United States because I respect the office,” Comey said.

Trump has previously called Comey, “Slippery James Comey,”an “untruthful slime ball” and a “LEAKER & LIAR.”

There is no ‘deep state’

“I hear this term ‘deep state’ all the time,” Comey said. “There is no ‘deep state.'”

“There is a deep culture and a commitment to the rule of law and equal protection of the laws, the fundamental values that are at the core of our Constitution that runs really deep in the FBI, the Justice Department as a whole, the intelligence community, the United States military services,” he said. “It is the ballast that gives me comfort, and I hope should give all Americans comfort.”

Comey’s book tour

Trump and Comey have traded barbs in recent weeks after the former FBI director, who Trump abruptly fired last year, re-emerged on the national stage earlier this month as part of a publicity tour for his book, “A Higher Loyalty.”