Rep. Michael Capuano is calling on former FBI Director James Comey to make a public statement, urging the recently-fired official not to wait for investigators to subpoena him before sharing “his version of every aspect of the issues at hand.”

The Massachusetts Democrat said in a Facebook post Sunday that Comey only has two choices after President Donald Trump tweeted an apparent warning last week that the dismissed director “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’” of their conversations.

“Either he succumbs to that threat, remains silent, and thereby does nothing to protect America…or he puts his integrity and patriotism above all else and tells the world his version of the story,” Capuano wrote.


While some perspective into Comey’s side of his fraught relationship with Trump has emerged, the former director himself has been silent and has declined an invitation from senators to testify at a closed committee hearing Tuesday.

Capuano, whose district includes swaths of Somerville, Cambridge, and Boston, said he respects Comey’s “desire to hold confidences,” citing his own belief that doing so is “usually the only way the next person” will speak openly and honestly.

“However, I have never been threatened to remain silent and my own integrity has never been jeopardized by the same people who benefit the most by my silence,” the congressman wrote. “We are taught to stand up to bullies and their threats. Once you succumb to one threat, bullies thrive, you lose all respect of self and from others. People appreciate confidentiality, but they admire strength and integrity more.”

Capuano said he would defend Comey’s integrity if the former director went public — even if he doesn’t like what he hears.

“If he remains silent – Mr. Comey will go down in history as a man who put self-preservation above patriotism. Mr. Comey, America needs you to do the right thing.”