It would be a no-brainer for President Donald Trump to meet with special counsel Robert Mueller "in a normal world," former FBI Director James Comey told Axios.
However, "we don't live in that world," Comey said Monday night.
Comey made the comments at a book-signing event at George Washington University. Comey's "A Higher Loyalty" came out last week.
"In a normal world, it would be very hard for the president of the United States not to submit to an interview in connection with an investigation that touches upon ... his conduct and that of people around him," Comey told Axios.
"In a normal world, the American people would find that very, very difficult to accept."
However, Comey says at a time when Trump voraciously assaults the norms that have been the bedrocks of governing, it's quite possible that meeting won't happen.
"So many norms have been broken that disturb me greatly. ... On a regular basis, the president tweets that I should be in jail, and even I go, 'Eh,'" Comey told Axios. "And that's crazy, right? In a normal world, everyone would freak out (if Trump didn't submit to an interview), but I don't know."
In the end, Comey told Axios he does not believe Trump will fire Mueller, simply because such a move would be "utterly ineffective."
"I would hope it would be disastrous in the eyes of the American people without regard to their political affiliation, but it would also be ineffective. So, don't do disastrous things at all. Don't do disastrous things that won't make a difference," Comey told Axios.