President Donald Trump has vented his anger almost daily this week amid James Comey's book tour. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo Trump calls treatment of Michael Flynn unfair compared to Comey

President Donald Trump complained Friday that his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, fired for misleading Vice President Mike Pence and charged with lying to the FBI, is being treated unfairly relative to former FBI Director James Comey, whose book tour has generated significant news and publicity this week.

“So General Michael Flynn’s life can be totally destroyed while Shadey [sic] James Comey can Leak and Lie and make lots of money from a third rate book (that should never have been written),” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Is that really the way life in America is supposed to work? I don’t think so!”


Comey’s book tour has seemingly occupied much of the president’s attention this week, prompting near daily tweets in which Trump vented his anger at the FBI director he fired last spring. In addition to labeling him “shady,” the president has also called Comey “slippery” and an “untruthful slimeball.” In one tweet last weekend, Trump wrote that “it was my great honor to fire James Comey!”

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Beyond the president’s tweets, the White House pushback against Comey has largely focused on labeling him a liar, based on his Congressional testimony which had to be quickly corrected after it was offered, and a leaker, based on his sharing, through an intermediary, with the media of memos he made regarding his interactions with Trump.

Flynn, an outspoken adviser to Trump’s campaign, served only briefly as his national security adviser. The retired general and former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency was found to have misled Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Russian officials during the transition period, prompting Trump to fire him when that news surfaced only weeks after the inauguration.

Flynn pleaded guilty last December to lying to the FBI about his interactions with former Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak and is cooperating with the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

