WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - James Comey replied to President Donald Trump's call to jail him for his actions as FBI Director, saying that it could erode the rule of law, and argued that the American people are becoming dangerously numb to the President undermining the key tenets of the United States.
The former FBI director was highly critical of Trump in two interviews broadcast Tuesday morning.
Both of them have been engaged in a war of words since the weekend. While Comey said Trump is morally unfit to be president, Trump called the former FBI director 'a liar and leaker,' suggesting he be sent to jail.
'That is not normal that is not OK,' Comey said in his 'Good Morning America' interview.
'First of all, he's just making stuff up. Most importantly, the President of the United States is calling for the imprisonment of a private citizen as he's done for a whole lot of people who criticize him. That is not acceptable in this country,' Comey told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos.
'This is not some tin-pot dictatorship where the leader of the country gets to say 'the people I don't like go to jail,' he told NPR in an interview that was also broadcast Tuesday morning.
'Our Lady Justice wears a blindfold. And the reason all those statues all over the country have a blindfold is, that's the way it has to be,' Comey told NPR. 'Lady Justice can't be peeking under the blindfold to see if Donald Trump wants her to convict so-and-so and not convict so-and-so. If we lose that, we've lost the rule of law, and so there's great danger in the president of the United States saying 'you should be in jail.'
To a question if he will run for office some day, Comey replied in the negative, but said he plans to teach at the university level and give speeches on ethics and leadership.
'I hope people read the book and see why the rule of law is such an important value in this country. And key to that is that the President doesn't get to decide who goes to jail,' Comey said referring to his memoir that was scheduled to release on Tuesday.
Comey was also critical of Trump's decision last week to pardon Scooter Libby, a former chief of staff to former Vice President Dick Cheney.
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