Comey op-ed: US democracy won’t ‘come apart’ if Trump isn’t removed from office

Former FBI Director James Comey penned an op-ed in The Washington Post on Friday maintaining that the U.S. won’t unravel even if President Trump is not removed from office. 

“I don’t buy the stuff about the United States’ democracy dying. Its death has been predicted regularly for two centuries,” he wrote. “Yes, a lot of Americans vote for people of poor character who then don’t act in their interest, but that has been true to varying degrees throughout our history.”

The op-ed comes as Senate Republicans gear up to acquit Trump on two articles of impeachment that the House passed in December over his dealings with Ukraine. 

In a 51-49 vote, the Senate on Friday shot down a measure that would have called witnesses in its impeachment trial, setting up a final vote Wednesday in which Trump is virtually guaranteed to be acquitted.

Comey has repeatedly clashed with Trump since his high-profile dismissal from the FBI in 2017. He has assailed the president over his rhetoric and character, and Trump in turn has insinuated that Comey engaged in corruption during his time helming the FBI. 

“Understandably, millions of Americans today see darkness. Our president is a bad person and an incompetent leader. He lies constantly, stokes flames of racial division, tries to obstruct justice and represents much of what our Founders feared about a self-interested demagogue,” Comey wrote Friday.

Comey added that Americans would have the chance to make a decision on Trump in the general election in November after having digested the details from Congress’s impeachment proceedings. 

“The House impeached the president, and though the Senate will likely acquit, the American people can witness the whole thing,” he wrote. “The free press fostered and protected by the genius of the First Amendment has let Americans know the truth, if they wish to.”

“They can see the facts and the process, and they will be shaped by that, both now and for the long term,” he continued. “In November, Americans, fully informed, will have the chance to decide what kind of country we are and what we expect of our leaders.”