Trump election victory 'very unlikely,' but 'possible': former FBI director Comey

Former FBI director James Comey says while he believes former U.S. president Donald Trump “will be defeated” in the upcoming presidential election, he doesn’t think it’s a given.

In an exclusive Canadian interview airing Sunday, Comey told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos he wouldn’t rule out a Trump victory in November, despite the former commander-in-chief’s felony convictions.

“Oh, sure, it's possible,” he said. “I hate to say that about my own country, but sure. I think it's very unlikely, but I think it's possible.”

On Thursday, Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records, to cover up a US$130,000 hush money payment — through his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen — to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, shortly before the 2016 presidential campaign.

The 12-member New York jury reached the verdict after nearly 12 hours of deliberations over two days.

Comey said he hopes the conviction will help sway undecided voters in the upcoming election, but that he doubts any die-hard Trump supporters, who he likened to cult followers, will ever change their minds or their votes.

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“It's big for the American people to see a civics lesson,” he said, when asked how significant he believes the verdict to be. “This is what the rule of law looks like.”

“You may brag that (you) could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not use lose supporters, but you'll be held accountable,” he added. “And this is what accountability looks like. This is how it works.”

Trump is also facing criminal charges in three other cases, including in connection to the January 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill, alleged election interference in Georgia in 2020, and classified documents allegedly taken from the White House.

None of those cases, however, are expected to be resolved before the upcoming presidential election in November.

In 2016, the FBI under Comey concluded that then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had been “extremely careless” for using a private email server for U.S. State Department matters, but did not recommend charges.

Comey later came under fire after notifying Congress just days before the U.S. presidential election that the FBI was investigating newly discovered emails. Clinton believed it contributed to her loss to Trump.

Two years later, an external investigation found Comey exercised an error in judgment but determined he did not act with any political bias.

Comey ­— a former U.S. attorney and law enforcement official who served as FBI director from 2013 to 2017, when he was fired by Trump — also has a new book out.

His latest crime novel, “Westport,” the second in his Nora Carleton series, hit bookstores last week.

The series’ main character is loosely based on Comey’s eldest daughter, who in real life works as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, but the former FBI director said there’s also a Canadian connection.

“I've actually never told anyone this in an interview,” he said. “I lived in college with a guy who fell in love with a Canadian woman, and moved to Canada, and they still live with their children and grandchildren in Ottawa.”

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“We went to visit her and she was taking graduate classes at Carleton University, or Carleton College, I forget what it was called then,” he added. “And when I was trying to come up with a last name for Nora, that popped in my head, and so that's what I went with.”

You can watch Comey’s full interview on CTV’s Question Period Sunday at 11 a.m. ET. 

With files from CTV’s Question Period Senior Producer Stephanie Ha