Kelly: In Comey's hometown, a mix of emotions as ex-FBI chief testifies

Ed O’Connell, a contractor and loyal Republican, dropped by the Allendale Bar and Grill just before noon on Thursday to check on one of his town’s favorite sons.

It wasn’t that James Comey, the recently fired FBI director, had suddenly returned in person to the intimately connected North Jersey community where he grew up. But Comey's presence was hard to miss.

As O’Connell sat on a barstool, sipping a ginger ale and munching on chicken tenders, Comey’s face peered down from two TV screens. And as Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee in Washington, his calm, methodical voice seemed to fill every corner of the restaurant that he occasionally visits when he returns to Allendale.

O’Connell smiled. Comey seemed to be doing just fine, O'Connell said, adding that he had no worries for the hometown boy — well, not too many worries. 

“He’s been taking everything they’re throwing at him,” O’Connell said, nodding toward the TV. “He’s answering it with his head held high.”

As for Donald Trump, who dismissed Comey on May 9, O’Connell thinks the president is in fine shape, too.

O’Connell still supports Trump — despite Comey’s account that the president may have overstepped his authority in attempting to steer an FBI investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

While the rest of America wonders what to make of this strange tale — and its cast of powerful characters — little Allendale, with its 6,500 residents, offers a far more nuanced view. If nothing else, Allendale is a reminder of what is at stake in the legal and political storm that has engulfed the Trump administration — and, by extension, the nation’s politics.

In Allendale the stakes are certainly political — with the future of a presidency at stake. But they're also personal — with Jim Comey's reputation on the line, too.

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"Everybody in the world is watching this thing," said Dick Williams, 83, a former high school physics teacher who has lived in Allendale for four decades, nursing a martini as he watched Comey's testimony from the bar.

Not surprisingly, however, some locals like Ed O’Connell want a happy ending to both the political and uniquely personal stories that touch Trump and Comey.

They want to be reassured that the nation is not facing another crisis on par with Watergate. At the same time, they also want assurance that a beloved hometown boy — some call him a hero — will not be dragged into the muddy swamp of politics.

And then, there is Comey’s father, J. Brien Comey, 86, a Republican and a former Allendale councilman.

The elder Comey feels angry and betrayed by a president who fired his 56-year-old son from the top post at the FBI and then called him “crazy” and a “real nut job,” according to a White House memo that was leaked to The New York Times.

That Trump delivered such biting criticism in an Oval Office meeting with several Russian officials who may figure prominently in the FBI’s investigation makes the tale — and the president's statements — all the more strange.

J. Brien Comey said he went to Mass on Thursday morning at Guardian Angel Roman Catholic Church. He often begins most days with Mass, he said.

On Thursday, Comey returned home right after leaving church. Surrounded by a handful of close friends, he turned on the TV and watched his son’s testimony.

"Jim did very well,” Comey said afterward. “He’s the real deal. He’s an honest, straight-shooting guy.”

As for the president, the senior Comey did not mince words.

“Trump is a liar,” Comey said.

'Our hometown hero'

Back at the Allendale Bar and Grill, the owner, Chris Kunisch, kept an eye on the TV while trying to deliver plates of food to customers.

“The true persona of Jim Comey is coming through,” Kunisch said after an hour of testimony. “This is the guy we call our hometown hero, and he always will be. He’s speaking the truth. He speaks with morality and he speaks with integrity.”

Across the dining room, Joy Crovatto, who lives in nearby Ramsey but comes to Allendale often to run errands and to grab a bite to eat at the Bar and Grill, settled into a seat at a table. An ardent Trump fan, Crovatto said she hoped the president would not be tarnished too much by the narrative being offered by the former FBI director.

After several hours of watching in silence, Crovatto smiled with relief.

“I was more concerned how President Trump would come out,” Crovatto said. “I didn’t want him to get hurt.”

“Everybody was expecting fireworks,” she added. “I don’t hear fireworks coming out of this. Yes, Comey is believable. I think he’s being honest. But I don’t think he put Donald Trump in a bad light. I think Trump is looking pretty good.”

At the bar, Robert Adam barely took his eyes off Comey as he sipped a Coors Light.

“I’m not a huge Trump fan. I’m trying to give him the benefit of the doubt,” said Adam, 47, a restaurant manager in Hawaii who was visiting friends in Midland Park, where he grew up.

But Adam liked what he saw in Comey.

“I think he’s a credible guy,” Adam said. “He’s transparent. And I like the way he enunciates and how he looks you right I the eye when he talks.”

But Adam said untangling the conflicting accounts that Comey and Trump and his surrogates have given of their exchanges presents an intractable dilemma.

“I don’t think we’ll ever get to the real bottom,” he said.

That lurking sense of not ever finding the truth framed many discussions among bar patrons. While Comey's testimony was certainly compelling — and, to many who watched in Allendale, believable — not all the questions were answered.

“This country is more divided than ever,” said Tyler Yaccarino, 20, a Ramapo College business student who sat at the bar next to Ed O’Connell and barely took his eyes off the TV as he ate lunch.

“He’s an honest person,” Yaccarino said of the former FBI chief. “He’s a good, genuine person. From watching this, he’s proving to be the person he actually is and not somebody that he isn’t. But this is going to be continuing as long as Trump is in office.”

Ed O’Connell nodded.

Yes, O'Connell said, the back-and-forth disagreements over Trump's behavior will likely persist as long as he occupies the White House. So will questions about what really happened in last year’s presidential election — and specifically whether Russian government operatives colluded with members of the Trump campaign to influence the outcome.

“I don’t know where it’s going,” O’Connell said. “I don’t know if we'll find 100 percent of the truth. But, some people, sooner or later, are going to get tired of it. And even if we get answers, who says they’re the correct ones?”

Email: kellym@northjersey.com