A Higher Loyalty audiobook cover - Truth, Lies and Leadership

A Higher Loyalty

Truth, Lies and Leadership

James Comey

★ 4.0 / 5(31 ratings)
Start ListeningDownload App
Categories:
Biography & MemoirPolitics

If You're Curious About These Questions...

You should listen to this audiobook

Listen to A Higher Loyalty — Free Audiobook

Loading player...

Key Takeaways from A Higher Loyalty

Learning Tools

Reinforce what you learned from A Higher Loyalty

Mind Map

A Higher Loyalty
Early Lessons & Formative Years+
Leadership & Humility+
Upholding Ethical Justice+
Leading the FBI+
The 2016 Election+
The Trump Administration+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 9
How did James Comey's childhood experience of being bullied influence his future career and character?
  • A. It made him want to become a powerful politician to punish his childhood tormentors.
  • B. It instilled a lifelong desire to help the defenseless and taught him how to read people's signs of aggression.
  • C. It caused him to seek a career in local law enforcement specifically to arrest violent criminals in his hometown.
  • D. It taught him that fear is the most effective way to maintain order and command respect from peers.
Question 2 of 9
What key leadership lesson did Comey learn from his teenage job working for grocery store owner Harry Howell?
  • A. That strict, unyielding punishment is the best way to prevent employee mistakes.
  • B. That delegating menial tasks is the only way a leader can focus on the big picture.
  • C. That a leader can be demanding and hold high standards while still showing mercy and compassion.
  • D. That customers will only respect a business if the owner rules the staff with an iron fist.
Question 3 of 9
According to Comey, what is the primary danger of a leader lacking humility, a trait he observed in Rudy Giuliani?
  • A. They surround themselves with advisors who are too scared to tell them the truth or offer opposing viewpoints.
  • B. They lose the ability to speak effectively in front of the press and public.
  • C. They are eventually voted out of office because the public prefers quiet, introverted leaders.
  • D. They become overly reliant on loyalty oaths to maintain control of their subordinates.
Question 4 of 9
Why did Comey and his team ultimately decide to prosecute Martha Stewart for insider trading?
  • A. Because she stole millions of dollars from ordinary investors through a complex Ponzi scheme.
  • B. Because her high profile made her an easy target to generate positive media coverage for the FBI.
  • C. Because she lied to federal investigators to cover up her actions, and ignoring this due to her wealth would compromise the justice system.
  • D. Because she refused to testify against her friend Sam Waksal in a larger corporate fraud case.
Question 5 of 9
What was the core issue that led to the dramatic hospital room showdown between Comey, John Ashcroft, and White House officials?
  • A. The White House's refusal to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.
  • B. The White House's attempt to force a sick Ashcroft to reauthorize an unlawful warrantless surveillance program.
  • C. The DOJ's decision to prosecute high-level Bush administration officials for war crimes.
  • D. The FBI's demand to increase funding for diversity recruitment programs against the President's wishes.
Question 6 of 9
When Comey became Director of the FBI, what was one of his primary goals for the organization's culture and demographics?
  • A. To shift the agency's focus entirely away from domestic crime to international terrorism.
  • B. To reinstate the aggressive, fear-based leadership methods originally championed by J. Edgar Hoover.
  • C. To make the agency less white and male so it would better reflect the nation's demographics.
  • D. To align the FBI more closely with the political goals of the Obama administration.
Question 7 of 9
Why did Comey decide to publicly announce the reopening of the Hillary Clinton email investigation just weeks before the 2016 election?
  • A. He wanted to ensure Donald Trump won the election because of his personal political biases.
  • B. He had promised the Republican-led Congress that he would provide weekly updates on the case.
  • C. He uncovered definitive proof that Clinton had intentionally sold state secrets to foreign adversaries.
  • D. He felt that concealing the discovery of new emails would destroy the FBI's credibility and look like special treatment if it leaked.
Question 8 of 9
What specific behavior from Donald Trump reminded Comey of the mafia bosses he used to prosecute?
  • A. Trump's insistence on conducting meetings in secret, underground locations.
  • B. Trump's repeated requests for a pledge of personal loyalty from Comey.
  • C. Trump's habit of using complex, coded language to order illegal wiretaps on political opponents.
  • D. Trump's threat to use physical violence against FBI agents who investigated his campaign.
Question 9 of 9
After being fired by President Trump, what action did Comey take regarding the private memos he had written about their conversations?
  • A. He destroyed them to protect the integrity of the presidency and avoid partisan conflict.
  • B. He sold them to a publishing company for a multi-million dollar book deal.
  • C. He leaked them to the press in hopes of prompting an investigation into whether Trump obstructed justice.
  • D. He handed them directly to Hillary Clinton's legal team to help her challenge the election results.

A Higher Loyalty — Full Chapter Overview

A Higher Loyalty Summary & Overview

A Higher Loyalty (2018) is the revealing account of James Comey’s history as a respected public servant across multiple presidential administrations. Comey guides readers through many years of experience, including his fight against unlawful torture and surveillance policies during the second Bush administration, and his experience with the Trump presidency.

Who Should Listen to A Higher Loyalty?

  • News and political junkies
  • Students of law and ethics
  • Readers eager for a peek at Washington’s inner workings

About the Author: James Comey

James Comey has decades of experience in law enforcement and leadership. His public service record extends from an Assistant United States Attorney in New York and Pennsylvania, the Deputy Attorney General in the Department of Justice to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

🎧
Listen in the AppOffline playback & background play
Get App