Trump lashes out at Comey, calls him an 'untruthful slime ball'

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Donald Trump and James Comey

• President Donald Trump on Friday morning attacked former FBI director James Comey on Twitter.
• The attacks come after details of Comey's new book began to emerge.
• In the book, Comey is highly critical of Trump, including comparing the president to a mob boss.

President Donald Trump on Friday took aim at former FBI director James Comey in a morning Twitter tirade after unflattering details emerged from Comey's new book.

"James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired," Trump tweeted. "He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH. He is a weak and untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI."

Over the past several days, excerpts of Comey's new book, "A Higher Loyalty," and teasers from an upcoming ABC interview have revealed the former FBI director's highly critical opinion of the president. Comey has compared Trump to a mob boss, criticized Trump's physical appearance, and detailed the president's focus on the salacious accusations contained in the dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.

In addition, Comey also recounted meetings with Trump in which he says Trump asked for his loyalty and requested Comey end the FBI investigation into his then-national security adviser, Michel Flynn. Those meetings are now a focus of the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

Trump fired Comey in May 2017, ostensibly for the FBI director's handling of the Hillary Clinton email scandal, which the president also referenced during his Twitter attacks.

"His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst 'botch jobs' of history," Trump said. "It was my great honor to fire James Comey!"

Trump's attacks also come after the Republican National Committee also launched a campaign to discredit Comey that includes a website and TV ads.