Comey sees in Trump a threat to the US

When we look back on the Age of Trump, we will remember a vivid chapter from Mr James Comey's new book. The former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seized by "the strangest feeling" upon meeting Mr Donald Trump. He looks at Mr Trump and sees a mafia don.

Then the President invites Mr Comey to dine alone with him at the White House.

At the start of A Higher Loyalty, the young Comey, a federal prosecutor in New York, not yet 30, is being schooled in mob rules by Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, the highest-ranking American mobster to turn government witness.

MrComey sums them up: "The silent circle of assent. The boss in complete control. Loyalty oaths."

Cut to dinner in the Green Room of the White House.

"I need loyalty," the boss says. "I expect loyalty."

Under the chandelier, over the shrimp scampi, Mr Comey has an out-of-body experience.

"This was surreal," he says.

"To my mind, the demand was like Sammy the Bull's Cosa Nostra induction ceremony…

"The voice inside said: 'Don't do anything; don't you dare move.'"

Mr Comey has made his move now. I know a bit about him from the years I spent writing about America's intelligence agencies, and I cannot help but see him as a straight arrow.

It is a telling fact that Mr Comey, a Republican until recently, made his reputation saying no to then president George W. Bush and then vice-president Dick Cheney.

In his two years as deputy attorney-general and acting attorney-general under Mr Bush, Mr Comey stood for the rule of law, and under great pressure. He confronted Mr Bush and Mr Cheney over the National Security Agency's spying on Americans and the Central Intelligence Agency's use of torture, saying the first was unconstitutional and the second illegal and immoral.

The events of March 2004 encapsulate Mr Comey's courage. He is opposed to reauthorising the NSA's eavesdropping programme.

In the White House, Mr Cheney goes eyeball to eyeball with Mr Comey and says: "Thousands of people are going to die because of what you are doing."

But Mr Comey stands firm, face to face with Mr Bush. He quotes German theologian Martin Luther to the president: "Here I stand. I can do no other."

Mr Bush backs down.

Now, he is standing up to a president again, saying, in effect, "stop in the name of the law".

He is right: The US cannot endure a leader who lies for sport and demands we believe his lies.

As Mr Barack Obama's FBI director, building on the 12 years served by his predecessor Robert Mueller, Mr Comey worked to rid the FBI of the legacy of its first director, Mr J. Edgar Hoover, who he said "used an iron hand to drive the agency and strike fear in the hearts of political leaders".

Mr Comey again sees a threat to America and it is orange.

His book provides wisdom future FBI directors might find useful. Do not attempt to rule by fear. Stand up to superiors when they try to bully you into doing the wrong thing. Write memos, especially when you sense the White House may need to be cordoned off with yellow tape.

Mr Comey is reminding us of the basic principles of right and wrong. He says we cannot endure as a republic if "basic facts are disputed, fundamental truth is questioned, lying is normalised, and unethical behaviour is ignored, excused, or rewarded" - a fair description of the Trump administration.

The only way out of this quagmire, for now, depends on the work of the FBI and Mr Mueller in his role as special prosecutor. Mr Comey will play the part of a star witness against Mr Trump. This book serves as a preview of his likely testimony. It has the smell of truth. - REUTERS

The writer has won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for reporting and writing on American intelligence.