James Comey gets a book deal

James Comey, the FBI director whose firing by President Trump earlier this year set off a political firestorm, will publish a book next spring with Flatiron Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers.

Comey served as FBI director from 2013 until he was fired by Trump on May 9, 2017. He learned he had been dismissed by seeing a television news report while he was in Los Angeles, speaking with local FBI agents.

The following month, he testified before Congress about his dismissal, claiming that Trump had lied about the reasons he fired Comey, and discussed memos he had written about his conversations with Trump.

While many Washington, D.C., leaders go on to write books about their experiences, few have had their note-taking so carefully examined before the contracts have been signed.

Flatiron announced the book deal Wednesday morning. The news comes less than three weeks after the New York Times reported that Comey was planning to write a book and that several publishers had expressed interest in a deal with the former director.

“Throughout his career, James Comey has had to face one difficult decision after another as he has served the leaders of our country,” Flatiron said in its news release. “His book promises to take us inside those extraordinary moments in our history, showing us how these leaders have behaved under pressure. By doing so, Director Comey will give us unprecedented entry into the corridors of power, and a remarkable lesson in leadership itself.”

It’s not clear whether Comey will write about his brief and apparently contentious relationship with Trump, although the publisher says Comey will use “examples from some of the highest-stakes situations in the past two decades of American government” in the book.

Prior to becoming FBI director, Comey served as a U.S. Attorney and U.S. Deputy Attorney General. In 2003, as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he was the lead prosecutor in the government’s case against Martha Stewart, who was accused of obstruction of justice and securities fraud. Stewart was convicted and served five months in prison.

Comey’s book, which is as yet untitled, will be published in the spring of 2018.