Hashing out sordid details of an event he admits there is no evidence happened, while dangling the possibility that it could have, is is a pretty obvious effort to generate book sales — along with descriptions of Trump as, among other things, a mob boss. Given that the more substantive parts of the book seem to be largely a rehash of his previously leaked memos and testimony, there was a clear incentive to throw some chum into the water.

One could make a perfectly valid argument that Trump deserves this sort of treatment and that Comey’s dislike of him is justified. After all, Trump is certainly no choir boy, he’s boasted of firing Comey, and this morning took to Twitter to attack Comey as a “slime ball.” So, in that sense, all is fair.

But Comey can’t have it both ways. If he wants to come off as a serious man who was just trying to do his job, and to disprove critics on both the right and left who criticized his involvement in politics, he shouldn’t be diving into the gutter with Trump.