After the large group filed out, Comey began his prepared remarks. James Comey is not someone who typically walks into a setting having rehearsed in advance his precise wording, but this was no ordinary occasion. When Comey got to the tawdry details contained in the dossier, Trump became defensive, cutting him off and denying the allegations. “Do I look like the kind of guy who needs prostitutes?” Trump asked. He then went on to recount, unprompted, a number of allegations against him by various women, which he claimed were all false. Comey indicated that the intelligence community was aware that the claims in the dossier were unsubstantiated, but that he nevertheless wanted Trump to be aware the information was circulating through government and media circles. Trump thanked Comey for the information, signaling the end of the short one-on-one meeting.

While Comey was still in with President-Elect Trump, it occurred to me that we might not have the luxury of making a clandestine escape. In the weeks since the election, media outlets had set up camp near the elevator bank on the first floor of Trump Tower in an attempt to catch glimpses of the dignitaries paying visits to the transition team, frequently being treated to impromptu press availabilities with Trump and whatever luminary he was meeting that day. I realized that we had not actually inquired of Trump’s staff whether he would expect the intelligence officials to join him to address the media. Would the president-elect, with Comey solo at his side, try to preempt the classified document’s leaking by taking it head on and describing it to members of the press gathered on the first floor? A president is permitted to declassify anything he wants, but what about a president-elect? Would Trump be violating the law if he disclosed secret information? It was a very real possibility that Trump would then hand the floor over to Comey to describe what he had just been briefed on. Although usually calm, I was suddenly nearing panic.