I don't mean that as- as a pejorative term. But it has to maintain a sense of independence from the political forces. But the Justice Department answers to the president. Scott Pelley: You say that the president wanted independence from his FBI director. James Comey: The president's view is that it's- has to be someone who is competent and independent to protect this institution. And then she paused and said but they're not going to pick you anyway, so just go down there and do you best. And she said I've known you since you were 19. And I found her down in the kitchen on the computer, looking at homes in the DC area, which was a clue. And so I went to bed that night convinced I was going to call him back and say no. But that I would sleep on it and call him back in the morning. And the truth is I told him I didn't think so, that I thought it was too much for my family. James Comey: The attorney general called and asked me if I was willing to be interviewed for FBI director. But after two years he left for private industry, telling his wife that it was her turn to do what she wanted. In 2003, President Bush appointed him deputy attorney general, number two at the Justice Department. He's been a federal prosecutor most of his career. Scott Pelley: Help me understand the principle at stake here that caused you to write a letter of resignation, to rush to the attorney general's bedside, to tell the President that he couldn't have what he wanted, and to face down the President's chief of staff. So Comey wrote a letter of resignation to the president, calling the situation "apocalyptic" and "fundamentally wrong." He left the letter on his desk and he and FBI Director Robert Mueller went to the White House to resign. The next day, some in the White House tried to force the authorization through a different way. And a little sense of unreality that this was happening. James Comey: Yeah, I didn't feel that way. And then he turned to me and pointed and said there's the attorney general. And then saying but- but that doesn't matter because I'm not the attorney general.
James Comey: With the attorney general surprising me, shocking me by pushing himself up on his elbows, and in very strong terms articulating the merits of the matter.
Scott Pelley: They spoke to Attorney General Ashcroft and said that the program should be reauthorized and you were there to argue that it should not be.
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