Ousted FBI Director James Comey to teach course on ethical leadership

Former FBI Director James Comey leaves a closed session with the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, 2017: Getty Images
Former FBI Director James Comey leaves a closed session with the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, 2017: Getty Images

Former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by Donald Trump after the President expressed displeasure about the direction being taken by the federal probe into possible collusion with Russia, is to teach a class on ethical leadership.

Mr Comey, 57, whose firing is believed to be being examined by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation to determine whether there was obscurity of justice, will teach the class at the College of William & Mary, a university in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he once studied.

“I am thrilled to have the chance to engage with William & Mary students about a vital topic – ethical leadership,” Mr Comey said in a statement to the Washington Post.

“Ethical leaders lead by seeing above the short term, above the urgent or the partisan, and with a higher loyalty to lasting values, most importantly the truth. Building and maintaining that kind of leadership, in both the private sector and government, is the challenge of our time.”

Mr Comey’s firing by Mr Trump last May was described by Mr Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon, was one of the “worst mistakes in modern political history”.

It led to the establishment of the independent investigation that has so far charged four of Mr Trump’s former associates, even while the President has denounced it was a “witch hunt”.

Adam Anthony, executive director of William & Mary’s Washington Centre, told the Associated Press that it “remains to be seen” whether Mr Comey will discuss his own experiences.