Trump calls Comey 'worst FBI director in history,' ahead of book release

President Trump bashed fired FBI Director James Comey several times Sunday on Twitter, calling him the agency’s worst leader “in history,” as the first of several TV interviews in which Comey promotes his tell-all book airs tonight.

“Slippery James Comey, a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!” Trump said in one of several tweets Sunday about Comey and his upcoming book, “A Higher Loyalty.”

Trump also tweeted that Comey's mishandling of the Clinton email probe deserves “jail” time and called him a “slimeball.”

“Unbelievably, James Comey states that Polls, where Crooked Hillary was leading, were a factor in the handling (stupidly) of the Clinton Email probe,” Trump tweeted. “In other words, he was making decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win, and he wanted a job. Slimeball!

Comey, who Trump fired in May 2017, says in his upcoming book that his decisions about restarting the federal probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of private email servers while secretary of state was influenced by her likely winning the 2016 White House race over Trump and that he was concerned about making her a “legitimate candidate.”

Trump tweeted five times Sunday on the issues.

“The big questions in Comey’s badly reviewed book aren’t answered like, how come he gave up Classified Information (jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail), why did the DNC refuse to give Server to the FBI (why didn’t they TAKE it), why the phony memos … ,” Trump also tweeted.

Trump has said he fired Comey because of his handling of the FBI's investigation into Clinton's email practices. Trump used the investigation as a cudgel in the campaign and repeatedly said Clinton should be jailed for using a personal email system while serving as secretary of state.

Democrats, on the other hand, have accused Comey of politicizing the investigation, and Clinton herself has said it hurt her election prospects.

“I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty,” tweeted Trump, who purportedly asked Comey for a loyalty pledge. “I hardly even knew this guy. Just another of his many lies. His “memos” are self serving and FAKE!”

Comey, who was appointed in 2013 by former President Barack Obama, writes that he regrets his approach and some of the wording he used in his July 2016 press conference in which he announced the decision not to recommend charges be brought against Clinton. But he says he believes he did the right thing by going before the cameras and making his statement, noting that the Justice Department had done so in other high-profile cases.

In the book, which is available April 17, Comey also reveals new details about how the government had unverified classified information that he believes could have been used to cast doubt on Attorney General Loretta Lynch's independence in the Clinton probe.

While Comey does not outline the details of the information -- and says he didn't see indications of Lynch inappropriately influencing the investigation -- he says it worried him that the material could be used to attack the integrity of the probe and the FBI's independence.

“Comey throws AG Lynch ‘under the bus!’ Why can’t we all find out what happened on the tarmac in the back of the plane with Wild Bill and Lynch?” Trump said in another tweet Sunday, referring to former President Bill Clinton going uninvited onto Lynch’s plane in Arizona and talking to her amid the investigations. “Was (Lynch) promised a Supreme Court seat, or AG, in order to lay off Hillary. No golf and grandkids talk (give us all a break)!”