James Comey's NJ Dad Praises Son's Testimony, Rips Trump

ALLENDALE, NJ — Former FBI Director James Comey's father, a lifelong Republican who once served as a public official in New Jersey, praised his son for his testimony before a Senate committee on Thursday and said it validated his ill feelings toward President Trump.

"He's a stand-up guy, and the other guy (Donald Trump) proved he's a weasel," J. Brien Comey, 86, a former Allendale councilman in Bergen County who watched the entire three-hour testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Patch.

James Comey told the committee he believes Trump fired him a month ago because of the FBI's investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016. James Comey said he considered Trump's request to end elements of the investigation as a "direction" from the president.

Read more: James Comey Testifies On Trump: 'Lordy, I Hope There Are Tapes'

James Comey made one passive reference in his testimony to his father, who served on the council in the town where he raised his son. When asked about his affinity for note-taking conversations that could be potentially troubling, James Comey said: "I had great parents and great teachers who beat that into me."

J. Brien Comey, who has said he didn't vote for Trump and has called him a "nut job," believes the testimony did not help the president.

"I feel the same, maybe worse" about Trump he said after listening to his son's testimony.

"He's my son, and he was right," Comey also said about the testimony. "He did a great job. He said everything he was able to say."

The father was never pleased about his firing, and he doesn't believe any of the president's changing reasons for doing so. Trump, he told Patch a month ago, has a problem.

"That poor guy is sick, and that guy is president of the United States, believe it or not," J. Brien Comey said in a telephone interview with Patch in May.

Read more: James Comey's Father: Donald Trump Is 'Sick'

Trump fired Comey May 9 as the director while the New Jersey native was leading an investigation into possible collusion between the president's campaign workers and Russian agents who worked to turn the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton.

The White House initially blamed the firing on Comey's handling of the probe into Clinton’s use of a private email server. The president said in a letter to Comey that he was being dismissed after a recommendation from the Justice Department's top officials who cited the Clinton investigation.

Later, the president undercut his own letter and the aides who had been spinning the Clinton story for him and settled on an explanation that many had suspected: He fired Comey in large part because of the Russian election probe.

“When I decided to just do it, I said to myself — I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story,” Trump told NBC News' Lester Holt in an interview, adding fuel to the fire.

The next day, Trump reportedly told Russians visiting the Oval Office that Comey was "crazy" and "a real nut job."

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